Flatpicking Guitar Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
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Flatpicking Guitar Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
CONTENTS
Flatpicking Guitar
FEA FE ATU TURE RES S
Norman Blake Flatpick Prole: Matthew Wingate Lucas Guitar Company Beginning Again by Lewis Stern Columnist Prole: Brad Davis Masters of Rhythm Guitar: Pat Enright
Magazine
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COLUMNS
Volume 1, Number 5
Creating An Exciting Set List Craig Vance Beginner’ss Page: Pick Direction Beginner’ Dan Huckabee Flatpick Rhythm Guitar: David Grier Joe Carr Flatpicking & Folk/Acoustic Rock John Tindel Kaufman’ss Corner: “Chief Sitting Bull” Kaufman’ Steve Kaufman Nashville Flat Top: “Climbin’ Cole Hill” Brad Davis Break Time: The Guitar Kickoff Chris Jones The O-Zone: “Playing Up the Neck - Part V” Orrin Starr Post-Modern Flatpicking Scott Nygaard Wayfaring Stranger - Part 1 Dix Bruce Music Theory: The Blues Scale Dave Bricker Guitar Making: Neck Considerations Don Gallagher Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes: Tunes: Fiddle Tune Tune Forms Adam Granger Beginning Clarence White Style Steve Pottier The Vintage Voice Buddy Summer
July/August 1997
Published bi-monthly by: High View Publications P.O. Box 51967 Pacic Grove, CA 93950 Phone: (408) 643-9026 Fax: (408) 643-9027 Orders: (800) 413-8296 E-mail: highview@atpick.com Web Site: http://www.atpick.com ISSN: 1089-9855 Dan Miller - Publisher and Editor Mariann Miller - Sales and Advertising Contributing Editors: Dave McCarty Bryan Kimsey Subscription Rate ($US): US $22.00 Canada/Mexico $27.00 Other Foreign $32.00 All contents Copyright © 1997 by High View View Publications unless otherwise indicated Reproduction of material appearing in the Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is forbidden without written permission Printed in the USA
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DEP DE PARTME ARTMENT NTS S
Flatpicking Guitar Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
New Release Highlight: Alan Shadd Reviews
56 60
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EDITOR'S PAGE In this issue we are proud to present Norman Blake as our cover story. Norman is a true living legend of atpicking, singing, and songwriting. He is also a member of the “rst name club” on the internet atpicking list. The “rst name club” includes those atpickers of such legendary talent and skill that you only need mention their rst name when posting to the list and everyone on the list knows who you are talking about. Along with Norman this club includes: Doc, Clarence, Tony, and Dan. If you can’t recognize who these famous flatpickers are, stay tuned, we will be putting all of these distinguished artists on our cover during our second year of publication. In the meantime, in our next issue, you can look forward to reading about two other bluegrass legends, George Shufer and Del McCoury. We are getting into the middle of festival season and I so hope that all of you are out there enjoying some great music and great jamming. Dan Miller Editor and Publisher
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Norman Blake and Tut Taylor “Pickin’ in the Kitchen” Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
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Norman
Last year in Maryville, Tennesse, at the rst Steve Kaufman Flatpicking Camp, Norman Blake began his Saturday afternoon workshop by saying, “I’m here to teach you how to play slow.” For many of the nearly two hundred camp attendees, including myself, it was exactly what we needed to hear. After spending a full week being blown away by teachers and fellow campers who could pick at lightning speeds, ngers dancing all over the ngerboard, it gave our deated self-condence a boost to hear a man of Norman’s stature say that he likes to play slow and, for the most part, likes to stay on the rst ve frets. When Norman said that, a lot of us breathed a sigh of relief and decided that we would not burn our guitars when we got home. All Norman Blake fans know that when he chooses to Norman can certainly play very fast, he can play all over the neck, and he can play ddle tunes and bluegrass with the best of them. Additionally, most who are familiar with Blake’s work know that he has spent the majority of his career playing Martin guitars. In an interview conducted at the 1997 Merlefest event, Norman Blake talks about why he now prefers to play the slower traditional old-time numbers and why his current guitar of choice is his 1929 Gibson Nick Lucas special.
you first became interested in playing music?
sound of the guitar or were you more interested in the music in general?
That is basica lly it. That and old records. We had 78 rpm records and wind up machines at home and I had heard Roy Acuff records rst. The rst music I was ever really conscious of was Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain Boys. I also heard the Monroe Brothers on record and of course the Skillet Lickers, the Carter Family, the Blue Sky Boys, the Delmore Brothers, and the Chuck Wagon Gang were all inuential. My Grandmother was a good musician. She played the piano, the organ and a little mandolin. She taught me my rst guitar thing, “The Spanish Fandango,” in open G tuning. She could play that. I also had a cousin named Earl Wallraven who was a ddler and old time banjo player. I would go to his house about a mile down the railroad track and he would play the ddle and teach me to second him. They called it “second” back then, playing “second to the ddle.” I did that and he would tell me when I wasn’t making the right chords or changing in the right places. He would crack me over the knuckles with the ddle bow or something.
Just the general over-all thing I think. I wasn’t drawn to it just for the guitar. You heard the ddle and the dobro. I was really drawn hard to the dobro, but I didn’t know what one was at that point. Old Oswald was playing it on Acuff records. The whole idiom just tickled my fancy.
How old were you when you started? At Steve Kaufman’s camp you said that all you ever wanted to do was play like the “hillbilly’s on the radio.” Was that how
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I was about eleven. When you listened to the old records and the radio shows, were you drawn to the
When did you start to learn how to play leads on the guitar?
Well the rst thing was that “Fandango,” but of course it was a nger style thing. It wasn’t like the written version because that is in 6/8 rhythm, but this was the open G straight time thing that you hear people play. When I got over the initial bare nger playing, I didn’t atpick. I played with one nger pick and a thumb pick and then gradually added a second nger pick. I then took up mandolin shortly after that an d played that with a atpick. At that point, in my mind, you didn’t mix the two. The mandolin was played with a atpick and the guitar with a thumb and nger pick. Most of the old time accompanists in the old time bands just played with the thumb and nger deal behind the ddle. So, I got into that and of course with that you learn how to make a lot of bass runs. Then you start to hear people like the Carter Family where she (Mother Maybelle) played the bass line run for the melody, so I learned
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Blake
that way. I learned the bass runs rst and then the Carter Family got me playing the bass string lead with thumb and nger. Later down the line I’d been through the Army in ‘61 through ‘63 down in the Panama Canal zone and I would pick up the guitar and I might play it with a atpick, but still in my mind that was not the way that you did it. In the early sixties, I would give a few guitar lessons, and people kept talking about this fella named Doc Watson. I had never heard him and someone brought me a Doc Watson record. I listened to that and said, “Lord a’mercy, I could do something like that.” I just didn’t think that it was something you did. It was sort of like a novelty that you would play the guitar that way. We had one fella that I knew early on by the name of Eddy Smith, up on Sand Mountain, who was a local player, who atpicked like that. We sort of marveled at him, but we didn’t try to imitate him that much. He could do the Riley Puckett style, but he had some atpick rolls, sort of like cross rolls, that he did. I also remember Don Reno playing the “Country Boy Rock and Roll” and atpicking the gospels on the guitar and stuff. I generally got into it that way. But when I heard Doc, I was sort of blown away by that. In those days I looked at it like mandolin style on the guitar. So I just gradually started doing it and kept on doing it. I read somewhere that you still like to ngerpick when you play at home. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
I ngerplay a whole lot. I got back into that, but I don’t do it with picks anymore. I’ve got to where I like to do it without any picks because I can get so much more, lickwise, without those picks. I just recorded a project on the Shanachie label that has ngerstyle on the 6 string banjo and on a National guitar. Its called “Chattanooga Sugarbabe,” and should be out this summer. I am currently starting to perform ngerstyle more on that banjo. I like to do it on light strings. I like real slinky trebles. I have gradually gotten more into that. How much of the ngerpicking carries over into atpicking?
In my case a lot of it does because a big inuence on me back about 1970 was Tut Taylor playing the dobro with a atpick. I got into those kind of rolls when I was playing with him a lot. I think I play so many rolls now that my style has slowed down. I used to be able to burn it up speed wise with a thumb and nger pick. I could drive any banjo player crazy with a thumb and nger pick in the early days. I could play good bluegrass backup with a thumb and nger. I have lost that art now because I just haven’t kept at it. My style has sort of broadened out, and the term I use is that I have gotten more “arrpegiated,” because I have gotten to where I play more and more rolls with my atpick and that ha s smoothed out and slowed down my style quite a bit. I
July/August 1997
think the ngerstyle and those atpick rolls kind of go hand in hand. I read somewhere that when you first started going out and playing on your own that you would play “hot licks” because that is what the audience expected. Earlier today you said that you used to play the Martin guitar because that is what people expected. Now it seems that you are getting into doing what you like to do.
Yeah, I’m doing what I like to do. It is easy to get me burned out on something that is real current. When enough people get into it, I kind of run the other way. I think I’ve done that a little bit with big twelve fret guitars, or D guitars period. People burned me out a long time ago. I heard so much D-28 hype in bluegrass that I got tired of it and I started playing twelve fret guitars. Now the twelve fret guitar has become well established, and I am glad to see that and I think that I have had a large factor in that because I performed on them so much. Now I’m going full circle back around because I started playing the Gibson once again. They were the rst guitars I had when I was a kid. Also, the Martin thing has gotten to be such a ritzy, high dollar, sophisticated club. I don’t knock it. I think it is great. But it is more to my liking to branch off and kind of get away from that. I don’t like to get typed into one thing totally. 5
more generic. I also like Gibsons because they have a short scale. I’ve gotten to where I don’t like the Martin 25.4 scale. With the shorter scale it is a little easier playing anchored in a chord as much as I do. I anchor down and play in a chord. When you are holding down something and moving in a chord it is easier because you don’t have as far to go. The strings are also looser and I like the sloppier feel. Norman and Nancy Blake I never have cared for instruments with long extended necks. What is the guitar you are playing They have never appealed to me. I don’t today? play that way. I usually play in about a ve fret range. Visually, and the way it It is a 1929 12 fret Nick Lucas special. sits in your lap, I like twelve fret, shorter, chunkier built instruments. The Gibson What is it that you like about that ts that build. I was getting closer to it guitar? playing my big twelve fret guitars too. I like them better than most fourteen fret I like that it has a shorter, punchy tone guitars. However, I do have a ‘39 D-18 that is good for old time music. It has a that I like about as well as anything I’ve deep tone, but it has a real short, gutsy, ever had. loud, spit-it-out kind of sound. It doesn’t ring or sustain forever. I kind of equate, in You mentioned earlier that you like to my own idiosyncratic mind, lots of sustain use a thicker pick when you are at home in guitars with a more modern sound. In than when you are on the road because other words, if you get a guitar that rings the thinner pick sounds better through a and you can go out and get a hot dog and microphone, it is the same with guitars? come back before it stops ringing, it starts to get a little modern sounding. It can also I used to do that. I would play the smaller start to get a little generic sounding because guitars when I was at home and then when they can all start to sound the same. It is I got a gig I’d grab the big Ma rtin and away like the A model Gibson mandolins, there I’d go. I decided that I didn’t want to make is only about one in a hundred that is really that transition. I’d play one at home and a cut above the other ninety-nine. That is then I’d have to go get used to one that I’d about the same thing with large guitars if play on stage. I kind of quit that. I gured you are not careful. There is about one in that the one that I would like at home I a hundred that you can pick out and say would kind of like anywhere. has character. As far as the thick picks go, a thick pick I feel like old time music has such can sound real good when you are kind of character that I want to play it on an instrusitting around, you can get into that big fat ment that has that same characte r. To tone, but it can sound a little muddy on a my ear, if I do old time music, I want to mic because you can pick up bass. A thin hear something that sounds more that way. pick, when it is on a mic, gives you a little Maybe that is all it is. It seems that sustain more cut and articulation. When it is just makes the music sound more modern and sitting under your ear and you haven’t 6
got that bigness of a sound system, then a thicker one can sound better. Does the Nick Lucas have bar frets on it?
I had bar frets on the Martins because they were staccato and I liked them because they had height. Now we have so many frets that are all kinds of heights that I went away from that. Also, it was so hard to get people to work on them that could do a good job. Not only was it hard to nd a guy who wanted to do the job, but rarely could they do it. A bar fret job, when it is done right, is really great. But more often than not, they weren’t that great and then they can be really hard to play on. For what I was gaining out of them, I was also losing as much. What kind of strings do you use?
I use GHS Dynamite Boomers. I use them in individual gauges. I have not used standard sets in years. I use whatever suits the particular guitar. What’s on that Nick Lucas guitar is .012, .016, .024, .034, .044, .060. I rarely use anything heavier than a .025 third. I would never use a .026, which is standard medium. I hardly ever use a .017 second string. Sometimes I use a .011 on the rst string, but never a .013. I never use anything lighter than a .058 on the bass of any guitar. I hardly ever use anything heavier than a .034 on the fourth or .044 on the fth. That is the basic parameters I stay in. I like the big string on top but I have never liked real tense, tight trebles on an instrument. I like the high end to be pretty loose. Can you talk about the pick that you like to use?
I take a standard Fender heavy and I take the point off and then I take one of the rounded back corners and I make it a little straighter where it comes to some kind of a not too sharp point. I bevel them on both sides too. I might leave one of the back corners like it came. That will give me the big woody, meaty sound if I want it. Then you have got the point, which you have shortened. So the whole thing becomes a basic triangular pick, just smaller. I used to sharpen my picks more than I do now. I used to be into getting a lot more of a trebly sound out of it and I don’t like that quite as much as I used to. I tend to go for a
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
bit more of a rounder thing with it now. I nd that suits me better now for the tone I try to produce.
About Norman Blake
But, as we talked about earlier, at home you might play a heavier pick?
Sitting around the house I might play an extra heavy instead of a heavy. Doesn’t the bevel you put on the pick make it seem a bit lighter than a heavy or extra heavy, as the case may be?
Right, and it also depends upon the degree of bevel. If you have an extra heavy pick and you bevel it enough, then you could still get a good bit of snap and articulation out of it. But if it doesn’t have enough bevel, it can be muddy. Therefore, on the opposite extreme, if you take a standard heavy, you don’t bevel it as much because it isn’t as thick to start with and you still get a brighter sound, but with less bevel. Earlier you said that it is easy to get you burned out on something that is real current. Has the fact that there are many young guitarists out there burning it up and playing everything at 90 miles an hour been a factor in your preference to play things slower these days?
I am certainly more comfortable with it slow. I think it all boils down to the fact that I have played more and more cross rolls over the years and that just slows you down. When I was playing my fastest, I wasn’t doing all that. I was just playing single note style. I call it linear style, just stretched out playing linear notes. But when you start playing rolls with a atpick it will slow your style down because you are putting in more. With the rolls you are putting in more at a slower speed, the other way you are putting in less at a faster speed. The guys that can play the fastest, I think, are putting in less notes and the ngerings have to be different. I feel that Tony Rice has a set of ngerings that are indicative strictly of his style. I don’t even savvy those ngerings enough to know what is going on. I see what he is doing, but it is way out past me. Sam Bush and Tony and those guys of that particular time frame, they developed a thing all their own. It is a whole style that is like a new jazz style really. You can’t hardly relate that back in some ways to some of the older Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
Norman Blake quit school at age 16 to play mandolin in a band, and music has been the focus of his life ever since. Born March 10, 1938 in Chattanooga, TN, Norman grew up in Sulphur Springs and Rising Fawn, GA (both towns have found themselves part of the titles of later albums). His rst band, The Dixie Drifters, played the Tennessee Barndance on WNOX Radio in Knoxville, TN. Later, they went to WDOD Radio, and from there to WROM-TV in Rome, GA where they stayed until 1956. Norman then worked with banjoist Bob Johnson as The Lonesome Travellers. They joined with Walter Forbes in making two records for RCA. In 1959, Norman left those groups to go with Hylo Brown and the Timberliners, although he continued as a duet with Bob Johnson in making several guest appearances on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry. At that time, Norman was drafted and stationed in the Panama Canal as a radio operator. There he formed the Fort Kobbe Mountaineers, a bluegrass band in which Norman played the ddle and mandolin. They were voted Best Instrumental Group of the Caribbean Command, with Norman voted Best Instrumentalist. Upon returning to the United States, Norman taught guitar to as many as 150 students weekly, and played the ddle in a country and western dance band three and four nights a week. He also made frequent trips to Nashville to play sessions and, for a time, played as a member of June Carter’s road group. In 1969, Norman moved to Nashville to do the Johnny Cash Summer TV show, in which he played the guitar and dobro as a member of Cash’s group. Along with country and western sessions, Norman recorded with Bob Dylan on The Nashville Skyline album. He was a member of Kris Kristofferson’s rst road group, playing guitar and dobro, and did a seasonal tour with Joan Baez, playing mandolin, guitar, and dobro; Norman recorded with both groups. He left Kristofferson to join and record with John Hartford’s Aeroplane Band. After that band dissolved, Norman toured with John Hartford as his accompanist for 1 1/2 years, during which time he recorded his rst solo album, Home in Sulphur Springs . He also received a gold record for his participation on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s legendary, Will the Circle be Unbroken album. After a nine-month tour with the Red, White and Blue(grass), he left to go back on his own where he has been ever since. In the ensuing years, Norman and his wife Nancy Blake have toured extensively, playing to larger and more dedicated audiences. Again, Frets Magazine Readers Poll Awards voted Norman rst place, this time in the category of Best Multi-Instrumentalist of 1986. Since 1989, the Blake’s have received four Grammy nominations in the “Best Traditional Folk Recording of the Year” catagory for their projects, Blind Dog , their Shanachie debut Just Gimme Somethin’ I’m Used To , and Shanachie releases While Passing Along This Way and The Hobo’s Last Ride. A San Francisco Examiner music critic wrote, “What Blake does is important, of course - but the glory of his string sounds, the Tennessee-Georgia twangy drawl of his vocals and the awesome blend of the Blake’s instruments produces an American music of incomparable purity and integrity.”
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Norman Blake Discography Back Home In Sulphur Springs (Rounder) Lighthouse On The Shore (Rounder) Original Underground Music From the Mysterious South (Rounder) Nashville Blues (Rounder) Slow Train Through Georgia (Rounder) Full Moon On The Farm ((Rounder) The Rising Fawn String Ensemble (Rounder) The Fields of November/Old and New
(Flying Fish) Whiskey Before Breakfast (Rounder) Blind Dog (w/Nancy Blake) (Rounder) Just Gimme Somethin' I'm Used To (w/Nancy Blake) (Shanachie) Natasha's Waltz (w/Nancy Blake) (Rounder) The Hobo's Last Ride (w/Nancy Blake) (Shanachie) Red, White, and Blue(Grass) (GRC) Live at McCabe’s (Takoma) The Norman and Nancy Blake Compact Disc (Rounder) While Passing Along This Way (w/Nancy Blake) (Shanachie) Guitar and Mandolin Duets (W/Red Rector) (Couy) Blackberry Blossom (Flying Fish) Blake & Rice (w/Tony Rice) (Rounder) Blake & Rice II (w/Rice and Watson) (Rounder) Flatpickin' In the Kitchen (w/Tut Taylor) (Tutlee) With Others*: Steve Earle's Train A Comin' (Warner) John Hartford’s Aero-Plain and Morning Bugle Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. 1 (Capital) Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline Dan Crary's Jammed If I Do (Sugar Hill) Beppee Gambetta's Dialogs (Alcazar) *Note: Norman Blake has also appeared on many other recordings with artists such as Joan Baez, Mark O’Connor, Doc Watson, James Bryan, Sam Bush, Butch Robbins, David Bromberg, Vic Jordan, and others to numerous to mention here.
Videos: Norman & Nancy Blake (Video Collection 1980-1995); Norman Blake and The Rising String Ensemble in Concert; Norman & Nancy Blake My Dear Old Southern Home; Norman & Nancy Blake Planet Riders. Instructional (Guitar): Norman Blake "Guitar Techniques Songs, Instruments and Styles." (Homespun)
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things. They just developed their own thing. They have spent a lot of time on that and they do ngerings that really suit those things that they are doing. That way they can get a lot of things that are seemingly impossible to some of us mere mortals (laughs). I’ve seen that you have been out playing some with Tony lately.
Yeah, we’ve been gigging a little bit. Is the set you do with him different from the kind of set you did today with Nancy and James?
Yes and no. It sounds different because of him. It is going to sound different because he is Tony and he sounds like Tony. He is probably playing slower to play with me. I just sing some songs. Sometimes I sing the same song s that I sang today. We play some instrumentals like “Salt Creek” and “Cattle in the Cane” and some of the standard things. But for most of it I just go out and sing some songs. He is not singing right now, so we don’t try to duplicate what we have recorded. Its great, I just go out and sing and say that I have a great lead guitar player. We have a lot of fun. He and I both like a good song. We always said that if we never got together on any other ground, that was enough right there. He has said that what we also have in common is that we both like tone. We both are conscious of making a certain kind of tone and dynamics. Speed wise, I don’t hold him any candles there. How do you go about working up a solo to a ddle tune?
I could come at it from a lot of angles. It would depend upon the tune partly. A lot of ddle tunes I learned out of ddle tune books on the mandolin because I can read better for the mandolin than I can for the guitar, plus it is all written for ddle, so the mandolin is the one. I might learn it on the mandolin out of the book and then gradually, just by ear, it translates over to the guitar. It usually gets changed because I think that some things that sound good on mandolins, ddles, and banjos are not guitaristi c. Some people say a “note is a note” or a “tune is a tune,” but I think there are certain things that sound good on a guitar that makes guitar music what it is and ddle music different.
But I might start a new tune by learning it out of a book and learn it that way on the mandolin and it might come over to the guitar. If I learn it by ear starting on the guitar I am usually looking for a place where I can get the most out of it just playing it by myself. I usually approach everything on the level of performing it at least by myself, so I am looking for where I can get the most rolls, the most power, volume and tone. I try to get the most happening with just me. This means that I would be playing it out of a C or G position trying to get the most open strings and adjacent drone strings. So I would go at it from that angle if I was just starting it on guitar. Would the break change a bit if you were playing in a band situation?
It might. It might be that you just don’t need as much or you don ’t need to establish the same kind of rhythm. The more people that are around, the more you tend to leave out because you can clutter it up too bad sometimes. There is no point to going into everything you can do if there are other musicians. During the workshop at Kaufman’s camp you said that you still try to play two or three hours everyday, but you also said that you used to practice more. I’ve heard stories about you sitting and practicing all day long. What do you do when you practice?
I might play one tune for a week. I might play different tunes all the time or I might not play any tunes, I might just sing songs, or I might just doodle around. Some days I just say that I am “doing maintenance,” I am just moving my ngers. I’m not learning a thing. I might go a month and not learn a thing except just keep my ngers in trim, keep them moving to where I could go up on stage and play. Or I might spend a month working hard to learn a set of tunes. I have no set regime. It is probably to my disadvantage really. I mean, a lot of people have much better practice habits. I don’t have good practice habits. I purely play because I like to play and sometimes that means just fooling with it.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Creating an Exciting Set List
by Craig Vance
There are several important steps concerning the creation of a set list. Keeping a set interesting, owing, and entertaining are the primary considerations. For example, you want to keep the audience interested by the choice of material you decide to choose, as well as the tempo, key, and mood changes. I’m not suggesting that you can’t put two songs back to back that are relatively the same pace. This is acceptable if there is some variety in key, message, and instrumentation. I learned some of this from working with Bill Keith. Keith always steers clear of doing two tunes in the same key if they were the least bit similar. In other words, when I was with Bill, we would NEVER play “June Apple” and
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(617) 325-6853 12
“Old Joe Clark” back to back (unless in a medley format) both in the key of G. If you do something of that nature, your audience begins to take the attitude of “all this stuff sounds the same.” That’s cool if you have a RapGrass attitude, but you don’t want people walking out on you for any reason. Avoid monotony! The easiest way to keep things interesting is through tempo. You could tear into “Salt Creek” in G, and then switch keys and tempo and ease into a mild but saucy version of “The Arkansas Traveler” in D with a nice drop D on the sixth string. You won’t see people getting antsy through that transition. Depending on the venue, it may be best to grab the attention of the audience by doing two or three songs back to back before talking between the songs. Introduce the band members after a few tunes, and if there are any instrumentation changes, include a brief mention of this. It’s also proper courtesy to give credit to the composer of the song whenever you’re doing something that’s not Public Domain. If you’re not sure, mention that you’re not sure, and perhaps an audience member can be helpful. Audiences, for the most part, love to be involved in whatever way they can with the performance. If you are fortunat e enough to be working in a situation where the sound person is familiar with your music, you should provide them with a complete copy of the set list. This not only will help with the flow of the set for necessary sound changes, but sound people often have control over the lighting, and the appropriate changes to set the mood can be made. Test out the entire set list at a rehearsal as if you were on stage, and time it so that you’re sure you have chosen enough material to fill the set length. Keep a couple of spare tunes on hand in case your set moves along quicker than you had anticipated at rehearsal. If you nd you’ve
already played longer than the time you were given for the set, throw that hot one in there and wrap it up. Of course, it’s always nice to get a few requests over the course of the set, but that doesn’t always mean that you can’t do the great songs you already had on the list. Toss in the requests that you get in an appropriate spot, and roll with the ow. Sometimes certain uncontrollable factors will occur causing you to make a change in the order. For instance if you or another member in the band should break a string, it may be necessary to 1) switch instruments, if this is an option for your band. 2) feature another member of the band, possibly a solo piece. 3) Change the string while telling a story about the next tune, or relate a joke that will last long enough to cover the time of changing the string. Keep in mind at all times, dead air on stage is a good way to lose the attention of your audience. Once you lose them, it’s extremely difcult to get them back. Play the Audience Play the audience means to accept your audience. You are there for their enjoyment. Pay attention to what groove really has hold of them during that particular performance. Certain venues will be different, certain nights will be different. I’ve often found that when I play out with The McKrells that a Friday night will differ immensely from a Saturday night, even though it’s the same venue. These factors have to be taken into consideration as to how you format your sets. Friday night the audience might want to hear more intense stuff, like breakdowns and quicker pace material. Then Saturday, they could be a tame bunch, quieter than the rowdies on Friday. They tend to go for the waltzes and slower ballads. Gauge the audience’s response at the end of each song and take mental notes. Keep your material fairly quick if that is what they’re after, and do fewer ballads and waltzes and vice versa. If you keep a good variety in your repertoire you won’t run short on what your audience wants to hear. Remember: Don’t play it just because YOU like it, play it because THEY like YOU.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Beginner’s Page
Gcdgcdgcdgcd by Dan Huckabee gcdgcdgcdgcd Pick Directions.... Key to success! On labor day 1971 I got into a conversation with a flatpicker at Bill Monroe’s McKinney Texas Bluegrass festival. He took a deep breath, spit out enough tobacco juice to keep from choking on his words, and announced: “I tried the ddle.....the notin’ was easy, but I couldn’t git that bowin’....” Over a period of several years I came to realize (exactly) what he was trying to say. He was talking about “bow direction”. He had failed to work out a scientic system for exactly when to “pull the bow down”, and when to “push the bow up”. The result.......he gave up on ddle. The ddle won....he lost. Well, that’s a sad story, because I’m sure he really had a lot of hopes and dreams of mastering the devil’s instrument, and the only thing that was standing in his way, was a system of simple ground rules that would allow him to overcome the hurdles that were tripping him up. Taco Bell and McDona lds have a system. Every detail has been mapped out and planned to the n’th degree and as a result, everybody gets exactly what they want......hot, fresh, and fast. Every location in every town is exactly the same. Why?...... they got their system worked out so well, that even the paper hat squad that’s running the place couldn’t mess it up. Pick direction in Bluegrass Guitar Soloing is a precise, sacred, and mandatory science. You respect it with reverence. You do not take “artistic license” with it. You are the worm.....it is the boot camp drill sergeant. When you pick down, it means something. It means you are playing a note that is on the “down Beat”. The down beat is the “on beat”. When you pick down....it’s loud, powerful, dominating, and produces a wide frequency range! Picking up is done when you are playing Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
a note that is on the “off beat” or the “back beat”. Picking up is wimpy! It’s weak, quiet, and does not produce a full frequency range. So now we have dynamics. We breathe! We’re not a machine like a robot, computer or a metronome. We are musical! The part you probably already realized was that alternating down.. up.. down.. up.. down.. up can make you faster than picking every note down. Theoretically, we could say that it would make us twice as fast, since you’d have to come up before you go down again, so why not catch a note while we’re on the way up. Saves a trip. If you have to “cock” your gun before you shoot it each time, your get off half the shots, but simply switching your direction at each note, will get you in a lot of trouble, because notes vary in time value, and they don’t all start on the “on beat”. Some start on the “off beat”. So each song is unique. Each song will have a specic pattern of pick directions, and you have to know (for each note), whether to pick it up or down, based on where it falls in the beat, and how long it is to be held. The best way to learn “CORRECT PICK DIRECTION” is to learn example tunes that have been laid out by an experienced teacher who will make sure that you are picking each and every note in the proper direction. If you play one note up when it should be played down, he should correct you. After you have
July/August 1997
perfected a hand full of tunes using proper pick direction, you start to realize that you have an “intuition” for correct pick direction. It really doesn’t take as much experience as it might seem. Every Bluegrass instrument must deal with this same issue. Guitar and mandolin are the same. Fiddle is the same, only it is “bow” direction rather than “pick” direction. Banjo and dobro are again the same thing: the “thumbpick” represents “down-picking,” while the “ngerpicks” represent “up-picking.” The following tune: “Red Haired Boy” is a perfect example of how correct pick direction defines and encourages good timing, dynamics, and prevents stumbling.
13
Every line is a specific combination of ups and downs. For example: the rst two measures are picked: down up down up down down up down up down up down. Almost all perfect alternating except one spot where there are two downs in a row. The next two measures are picked down up down down down, down up down up down down. Kind of has it’s own little rhythm to it, doesn’t it? The pick directions almost dene the length each note is to be held,
and cause the personality of the piece to almost pop out at you. The pick directions indicated in this tablature are not suggestions. They are law! If you view them as importantly as you do the pitch values......magic will happen. Our Bluegrass Guitar Video Lesson goes into this issue in great detail and so does our four cassette series on Bluegrass Guitar. If you’d like to have a chance to perfect this science, give us a call at 800-543-6125 and
we’ll send you the free catalog describing the material. Now you know why my tobacco spittin’ buddy gave up the ddle. An easily preventable tragedy.
Red Haired Boy
Key of A (Capo 2)
Traditional Arranged by Dan Huckabee
# œ 4 œ . œ Œ œ œ & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œnœ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥≤ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≥ .Œ Œ œ œ œ œ # n œ œ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œ œ œ œ œ . œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥≤ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥≤ ≥ ≥ ≥ .. ≥ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœ . œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œnœ œ œ œ œ œ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ . Œ ≥ ≤ C
G
1
0 2
0 2 0
C
6
0 1 3
0
G
3 0 1
G
0 1 3
D
G
F
0
1
0
G
0
2 0
3
3
0 2
0 2 0
C
F
3
HP
0 1 3
0
3 0 1
0 1 3
0 3 5 3 0
0 1 3 1 0
3
2 0
0 1
010
3
3 1 0
3 1
1
3
11
G
0 1 3
= down stroke
F
0
0
1 0
C
G
2 0
3
3
0 2
0 2 0
0 1 3
0
3 0 1
G
0 1 3
D
0 3 5 3 0
G
0 1 3 1 0
2 0
= up stroke
Visit the
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Web site:
http://www.atpick.com 14
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Flatpick Prole: Merlefest Flatpicking Champion Matthew Wingate The Merlefest Flatpicking Contest Being the winner of any atpicking guitar contest is a grand achievement. To win the contest at the festival held in honor of Doc Watson’s son and atpicking great, Merle Watson, holds special signicance amongst atpickers. Just hours after the contest was over atpickers everywhere were already on the internet trying to nd out “who won Merlefest?” That night the winners name was bouncing around cyberspace and echoed in jam sessions around the country. Shooting to win a new Gallagher Doc Watson model guitar and a $300 check, the seventeen contestants at this year’s Merlefest atpicking guitar championship not only had the stiff competition from each other to contend with, but the act they had to follow was a half hour set performed by Doc Watson and Tony Rice. After each of the contestants had played the two tunes they had no doubt practiced hundreds of times in preparation for the contest, the judges selected the individuals who they wanted to hear again. All of the contestants performed well and there were at least half a dozen of them who easily deserved to make the cut. But the judges could only choose three. Allen Shadd of Jacksonville, Florida; Adam Wright of Nashville, Tennessee; and Matthew Wingate of Huntsville, Alabama, were chosen and got the opportunity to play again. Two additional tunes were played by each of the nalists and the results revealed that the judges had selected Matthew Wingate as the winner, followed by Allen Shadd in second and Adam Wright took the third place honors. The Winner Matthew Wingate, winner of both the atpicking guitar and mandolin contests at Merlefest ‘97, started playing music at the age of twelve. The fact that Matthew learned to play music at a young age is not surprising. I guess we’d expect that Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
most individuals with who have developed their talent to the level required to win a major atpicking contest, not to mention the mandolin contest as well, would have started playing when they were fairly young. The surprising part about this story is that Matthew Wingate was twelve Matthew Wingate playing his new Gallagher just three years ago. If Doc Watson model guitar at Merlefest 97 you added the numbers some things on the guitar like basic chords. right, you got it, Matthew Wingate is just For atpicking leads Matthew said that in fteen years old. the beginning he worked quite a bit with Knowing that Matthew sharpens his Homespun videos and video tapes taken skills while playing and singing with his at live performanc es. While pickers of family band, The Wingates (Matthew on generations past spent hours and hours by mandolin and guitar, his dad Jim on guitar, the turntable listening to licks over and over his mom Shelia on bass, sister Jessica on again to learn from their heroes, Matthew ddle, sister Amanda on dobro, and family has done the same thing, but with video friend Rodney Carter on banjo), I was under tapes. While the very rst video Matthew the assumption that bluegrass music had worked with was the rst of Homespun’s been in his family since he was in diapers Doc Watson videos, Tony Rice is a favorite and that he had grown up listening to his of Matthew’s and he said that he would parents and older siblings pick bluegrass watch videos of Tony, pick up what Tony around the house. I was shocked to nd was playing and “spread it around different out that, while both his parents play the ways.” He says, “I about wore the video piano (mom classical and dad country) tape player out.” and his dad plays rhythm guitar, Matthew Matthew says that he doesn’t really have was in fact the rst in his home to have an any type of practice regime or schedule. interest in pursuing bluegrass. Having He says, “Whenever I get the urge to play listened to the Wingate’s new cassette tape I just pick up the guitar and play a little and realizing that the members of his bit until I get tired of it.” To prepare for family had all been playing this music less the contest, Matthew, who is quite good at than three years, I’ve got to wonder what improvisation in a jam session setting, their putting in the water down there in says that for a contest tune he will work Huntsville and where I can get some! up a break and try to play it the same way over and over again. When working up Learning to Pick the contest tunes he says he tries to work Matthew said that his interest in playing up variations that stick pretty close to the bluegrass was sparked after attending a melody. At Merlefest he played “Alabama New Traditions concert about three years Jubilee” and “Dixie Breakdown” in the ago. He began learning mandolin at that preliminary round and “Big Mon” and time and picked up the guitar about a year “Salt Creek” in the nals. The guitar he later. At rst Matthew’s father showed him played in the contest was a ‘95 Martin D-28.
July/August 1997
15
œ œ œ œ Flatpick Rhythm Guitar œ œ œ# œ H.O.
0
3
1
2
0
2
0
by Joe Carr
0
David Grier - The Flatpicker’s Flatpicker I always hate it when music columnists feature an original composition in their columns. I never know how the song goes and I don’t want to buy the album to see if it is a good tune. So why am I featuring an original tune in this column? Several months ago David Grier recorded with Alan Munde and me for our new CD project. David heard the tune for the rst time about 15 minutes before we recorded it. We cut the song two times and each time David’s rhythm and solo was interesting, exciting, inventive, and DIFFERENT. Since I had the master tapes and was able to isolate David’s rhythm guitar, I thought it would be really instructive to see what David does on a tune he has only just learned. “Oklahoma Flats” is based on common bluegrass chords and progressions, so the licks will be useful in many other songs. To assu age my guil t, I have also transcribed David’s solo and the “A” melody which he plays in unison with the mandolin. Although the tune was written on the mandolin, it transfers well to guitar. For completeness, I included the “B” part as played by the mandolin (Grier never
played this melody on the recording.) The Rhythm On this tune David used an interesting rhythm lick I will call a Norman Blake style rhythm. Look at Exercise One: Begin with a down stroke on the sixth string, third fret, followed by an upstroke on the open fourth string. Now strum on the remaining strings of the G chord downwards and nish with an upstroke on the fourth string. Finish the measure by repeating the above. It is not a problem if you hit more than one string on the upstroke since all the notes are in the G chord, but for the exercise, strive for accuracy. Exercise Two: This is the same as exercise one, but you don’t play the rst string during the strum. Try muting the rst string by lifting, slightly, the nger that frets the third fret of the rst string or by resting one or more of your right hand ngers on the rst string by the bridge. Exercise Three: In this pattern, double the strum using the down-up strum on the rst, second and third strings.
F(b7) and D (5) chords. Notice the rst string is only used on the F and D chords in the rst eight measures. In measures 9-16 David varies his upstrums. Don’t worry if the pick hits strings other than those indicated. Just “target” your pick to the general area in the music. Remember, this tune is played at 114 bpm, so complete accuracy isn’t practical or desirable. In measure 12, the symbol > indicates an accent ed downstru m. David uses this accent to push the music along at various times. Although the accent isn’t obvious in the nal mix of the tune, it really helps the drive of the music. The “B” sect ion begin s with two measures of F. David uses the familiar D minor shape in the rst measure which creates an F6 chord. In measures 18 and 19, a descending series of chord shapes leads from F to G. The stopped F chord in measure 12 is a quick accented strum which is immediately stopped from ringing by lifting the fretting ngers. Section “B” ends in measure 32 with a G run that arrives at G one beat “early.”
The Tune The “A” section of the tune uses G(1),
Exercise 3:
Exercise 2:
Exercise 1:
œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ 1
:
:
:
0
3 0 0
0
3
≥
= down stroke
0 3
≤
3 0 0
0 :
:
: 3
:
0
3 0 0
0
0 3
3 0 0
0
:
:
:
0
3 3 0
3 3 0
0
0
3 3 0
:
3 3 0 :
3
= up stroke
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
17
Oklahoma Flats - David Grier Rhythm A
Written and Transcribed by Joe Carr
G
# & 44 œœœ œœœ œ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œ œœœ œœœ œ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ 3 3 0 0 0 0 3
0
3 3 0 0
3
# n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œœ n œ œ 3 3 0 0 0
3 0 0
3 3 0 0 0 0
3
F
6
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3
3
3 3 0 0 0 0 0
3
œœ œœ n œ œœn œœ œœ œœœ
3
3 3 0 0 0 0 0 3
F
0 0 0 0
D
3 3 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3
3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
3 0 0 0 3
œ # œ œ & œ œ œ œ œœ 16
2 3 2 2
0
3 3 0 0
0
3 2 2
0
3 0 0
1 1 2 3 3
G
>
1 1 2 3 3
0 0 0 2 3
0 0 0 2
œœ œ 5 6 5 0
nœœ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ
n œœ œ
1 3 2 0
1 1 1 0 1 3 3 3 0 3 2 2 2 0 2 0 0
5 6 5 0
6 B F
>
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
œœ œ
œœ œ
3 5 4 0
3 5 4 0
>
# n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & n œ œ œ nœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ 21
D >
F
1 1 2 3
1 1 1 1 2 2 3
1 1 1 1 2 2 3
3 3 0 0 0 0 0
3 3 0 0 0 0
G
œ œ n œœ œœ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ & œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œœ n œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ G
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœœ œœ 3
1 2 3
3 0 0
3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
3
F
D
3
1 1 1 1 0 0
3
3
3
3 3 0 0 0 0
G
œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ n œ œ œ œ œœ œ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ
G
11
18
F
1
1 2
1 0 2
1 0
2 3 2 0
2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 0
0
3 0 0
3
œœ œœ n œœœ n œœœœ œ F
3
0
3 0
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
1 2 3 3
1 1 2 3 3
G
F
œœ œ
œœ n œœœ
œœ œ
0 0 0 2 3
0 0 0 2
1 2 3 3
1 2 3 3
n œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œjœœ œjœ œ œ œ œœ 9 >G
1 3 2 0
œœ œœ
>
5 3 2 0
>
1 3 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 0 0 2
3 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 2
j
0 0 0 2
j
œœ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ nœ œ œ F
5 3 2 0
0 2
0 2
3
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
1 1 1 1 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2
3
July/August 1997
Lucas Custom Instruments by Dave McCarty
Nothin g excite s a flatpicker like guitars. We spend endless hours examining and studying them, poking mirrors and ashlights through soundholes to scrutinize bracing patterns and construction details. We’ll argue in person and on the Internet for hours over the tonal and acoustic merits of Adirondack spruce, Brazilian rosewood, tongue brace removal, enlarged soundholes, fossilized walrus ivory saddles, nuts and bridgepins. We touch ‘em, hold ‘em; hell, we even smell ‘em. No dimension escapes our notice. We care deeply about the difference of 1/16th inch in the width of our ngerboards at the nut. We’ll measure grains per inch in the tops of our guitars. Our non-guitar playing friends and spouses look on in kind bemusement, like parents indulging the whims of a child. If anything arouses our passions like old guitars, it’s new guitars; custom guitars
crafted with heart and wood, re and steel. It’s the realization of every fantasy each of us ever has about our dream guitar, our chance to overcome whatever limitations we feel our instrument leaves us. Randy Lucas knows these passions. His heart beats with the same rhythm as any guitar gunslinger handed a pick-worn 1936 Martin D-28 to “try out.” He loves the curves and the feel and the sound and the smell and aura of great guitars. What separates Randy Lucas from you and me is that he turns those dreams into reality. Like all of us, Lucas has gone through an evolution in his musical journey. “My first interest was studying to become a mechanical engineer, but that sort of fell by the wayside when I had aspirations of becoming a musician. Then I moved on to guitar collector, to restorer and nally to builder. It’s sort of evolved over the last 10 years,” he told Flatpicking Guitar. Living on Long Island, NY and collecting old Martins, it was no surprise that Lucas met John Monteleone, now regarded as one of the premier mandolin and archtop guitar builders in the world. “I spent two years picking his brain,” Randy explains. The two never worked together, he adds, but Lucas used every opportunity he had to have Monteleone work on one of his vintage Martins as time to ask questions, observe and learn from the best. After being laid off from his East Coast job in mechanical design, Randy moved back to Indiana and took a position as a mechanical designer, allowing him to pursue guitar repair weekends and evenings. He quickly built a reputation for careful, meticulous repair work and built a sizeable clientele bringing him all sorts of instruments. Then in 1993, the variances of the economy again led to a downsizing from Randy Lucas inspects a piece of his regular job. He faced the Brazilian Rosewood
22
decision of his life. “After a lot of prayerful consideration and a lot of long talks with my wife, we decided that I had to try it now if I was ever going to. So I did it, and I haven’t regretted it since,” Lucas says today. “It’s one of the most exciting job changes I could have made. I love my job!” He spent his rst summer as a full-time luthier repairing and studying more vintage guitars, going beyond just measuring basic dimensions to recording tap tones, analyzing where the instrument had failed structurally, how it differed from others of the same model and what impact those differences may have had on the sound. Lucas’ background in mechanical engineering and design gave him the background he needed to understand the instrument’s fundamental design and function. He went beyond schematic drawings and time-honored construction patterns to examine the complex interaction of wood against wood, learning all he could about how the tone woods used in guitars act the way they do, how they age, how processes such as sawing and drying can bring out the best a piece of wood has to offer. It was an odyssey that continues today and will last his entire career, he believes. “My goal from the outset of getting into this craft was to build guitars, not be a repairman. I have a deep love for the sound of vintage Martin guitars from 1928 to 1945; that was the sound I was going for and that was the design I chose to start with, That was my textbook,” Lucas explains. “Actually getting your hands on the instruments and the wood, that’s what’s really important. It’s like trying to learn to swim by reading about it; getting in the water is where you really learn to swim.” Another characteristic needed to learn to swim is the faith and fearlessness to jump in the water. That’s something Lucas has never lacked. After building the sixth guitar of his life, a recreation of a 1930s D-45 no less, he took it to Nashville where he boldly asked legendary guitar collector and entrepreneur George Gruhn for an honest, objective opinion. “I wasn’t shing for compliments, I just wanted some real, honest criticism,” Randy explains. George
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
scrutinized it thoroughly, then asked how many guitars Lucas had built until then. “When I said this was my sixth guitar, he just sat there real silent,” Randy recalls now with a laugh. When he got over his shock that someone with so little experience could have built a guitar that sounded and looked that good, Gruhn opened up to Lucas, pointing out ner points he should begin working on and helping him understand the business end of marketing custom guitars. Gruhn also told the budding luthier that he’d carry Lucas guitars at world-famous Gruhn Guitars, a landmark step in helping Lucas gain credibility and public awareness. Another key person in that process was Stan Werbin, owner of the Midwest’s other great acoustic guitar store, Elderly Instruments in East Lansing, Michigan. “When I think of my dream list of stores where I would have wanted my guitars sold, it would be those two stores,” Lucas says enthusiastically. “I feel really blessed by them saying they’d love to sell my guitars. I think a lot of them for that,” he says. In addition to meeting key store owners, Lucas also has taken every opportunity to put his instruments into the hands of great guitarists to get feedback and recommendations. “I’ve never been a brave person,” he admits, “but I did force myself to talk to people like Wyatt Rice. So I did go to several people I’ve admired as players and gotten their reaction on what they liked and what they didn’t like. I’m real open to feedback.” Through these associations and his love of the Martin dreadnought guitars, most of Randy’s instruments have ended up in the hands of atpicking guitarists. One of his prize clients is an old friend, Kenny Smith, who now plays guitar with the immensely popular Lonesome River Band. Randy rst met Kenny while the guitarist was working at Gallagher Guitars, and Lucas had no idea he was even a player. “We talked mostly about guitar construction,” Randy explains. Then while walking through the halls of the 1995 SPGMA convention in Nashville, “I heard this amazing player, and it was Kenny. I was just blown away.” A year later, Randy was delivering a guitar to John Randall Stewart and Kenny was so impressed he ordered one for himself. That guitar, which Smith wanted to use as a stage instrument, was made without scalloped braces to avoid that vintage guitar booming bass which so often overpowers a microphone. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
Randy Lucas hand scallops the top bracing on a guitar Changin g guitar design to suit a customer’s needs is central to Lucas’ way of doing business. Although he has a great respect for tradition, he feels hemmed in at times. “I feel like I’m painted into a corner if I have to make a guitar exactly like a vintage guitar,” he explains. Over the last few years, the Lucas guitar design has evolved slightly to incorporate Randy’s own thoughts and experiences with vintage and contemporary guitars. He sets up his guitars with a greater neck angle, which adds tension to the top. To compensate for that, he uses a parabolic bracing pattern where all of the top braces are arched to better manage the additional top tension. The result, he has found, is a more balanced sounding instrument. Randy’s current model lineup includes Martin-style dreadnought and OM guitars in Brazilian rosewood and mahogany, as well as a Jumbo model based on the popular Gibson J-185. “I’m a jumbo fanatic,” he agrees. “What I want to do is take the J-185 beyond where it was in its heyday.” With an annual production rate of about 30 guitars a year, Lucas Guitars are built in batches of six. Four, he explains, are standard models, giving him two guitars he can build to customer specications. Other additions to his catalog will include a 12-fret 000 model and a Gibson Advanced Jumbo design guitar. Randy also continues doing some repair and restoration work, such as the conversion of two Martin C-2 archtop guitars into 000-42-style instru-
July/August 1997
ments for a Japanese collector. He’s also nishing a new 1,500 square foot modern workshop which will house all his storage, construction and nishing facilities. “My wife is teasing me now that the shop is better than our house,” Randy admits cheerfully. Looking at the industry as a whole, Lucas feels he was in the right place at the right time when he committed to building guitars for a living. “I think we’re in the Golden Age of instrument building, both handmade and factory-made, too,” he asserts. “The level of craftsmanship, the level of selection out there is the best it’s ever been in the history of instrument building. To the consumer, what a great time to buy a guitar!” For more information on Lucas Guitars, call 1-812-342-3093.
23
Flatpicking Flatpicking & & Folk/Acoustic Folk/Acoustic Rock Rock by byJohn JohnTindel Tindel
One of the many joys of having an ongoing relationship with the acoustic guitar is the continuing discovery of the myriad tone variations inherent in this simple yet sophisticated construction of wood and steel. The subtle nuances of pick placement in relation to the bridge and sound hole, the rmness of grip, strength of attack, all these have their distinct roles to play in producing the vibrations that result when disturbed air molecules reach our inner ear, are converted to electrical impulses, and are perceived by our brains, somehow, as music. The pristine, chiming ring of harmonics, the ample middle register, running from bright, fast ashes of re to throaty warm lyricism, down to the low, throbbing, bassy drive of acoustic blues; all these “tone colors” are part of the palette that the guitar gives us to paint with, if we can only discover them. Have you noticed that most acoustic guitars don’t come equipped with tone control, unlike their electried cousins? Little things like variations in tone and adjustments of bass and treble frequencies must be dealt with the old fashioned way, by hand. Moving towards or away from the
bridge with the pick stroke creates subtle differences in treble and bass shadings. This can be useful in creating a particular mood or dynamic in a given piece of music.
you press on the strings, the more muting occurs, of course. I’ve found that splitting the difference between the bridge and strings with the butt of the palm works best. If you move too far forward on the strings, too much vibration is damped and usable sound is lost. Too far back on the bridge and not enough muting occurs to be noticeable. Experiment with your hand placement with the example below.
Muting Another great technique for varying the tonal possibilities of your playing is to incorporate staccato or muted passages. Unlike the piano, the guitar’s sustain pedal is always on; unless you choose to damp the strings down they’ll keep on ringing. This can be a beautiful thing and is in fact one of my favorite things about the guitar. On the other hand, a fast staccato passage or even a slower, more syncopated line is just what is sometimes needed. The physical technique of picking with power and accuracy while resting the side of your hand on top of the strings can take some getting used to, especially for players that are used to moving the pick more from the elbow and forearm. Try nding a pivot point right where the hand joins the arm in the middle of the wrist. You may nd you’ll need to adjust the pick angle to keep the meaty part of the edge of your palm in contact with the strings. The harder
Example A is the intro part of a new RST song called “Gone Tropo.” Play this loud and steady, yet fully muted and staccato. Example B is a harmony part for a second guitar, to be played the same way. Grab a couple of buddies to play the chord accompaniment and harmony parts and you’ll be looking for a pina colada and some coppertone! Play around with muting passages of tunes you already know. The technique is especially effective on driving, low, bass string kind of things. Dig in and tap into the power of the guitar as a percussion instrument. Have fun and until next time,
Example A: Gone Tropo
œ œ # j j œ j œ . . . 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ ‰ œ ‰ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ œ &4 J J œ. œ J . . ‰J ‰J ‰J . ‰J ‰J ‰J . G
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Example B: Gone Tropo harmony
. . œ œ œ œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ . & 44 ‰ œJ ‰ J ‰ J œ ‰ J ‰ œJ ‰ J . . ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ . J J J J J J G
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Beginning Again: Starting Almost From Scratch at the Mid-Century Mark by Lewis M. Stern I am a beginner, again, as I was when I turned ten years of age and, under the spell of the Beatles blitzkrieg, went down into my basement and tried to build an electric guitar from pieces of old door jams, shing line and leather scraps left over from a Cub Scout project. A year later I purchas ed a second hand beginners guitar for five dollars from a friend. About four years later a Boy Scout camp buddy, from Yugoslavia as I recall, taught me to tune it, nger it, chord it, and have some fun with it, the “it” being a 35 dollar box I purchased in Manhattan, from the “no one else wants these” section of the store. That guitar swept with me through the folk revival, ushered along by Pete Seeger’s good playing and political relevance, and ended up sharing a corner with a Bacon Belmont long necked 5 string my mom bought for me from a high school friend as a graduation surprise for 50 dollars. In graduate school, I spent a dollar to go to a concert in the student union building at the University of Pittsburgh to hear Doc Watson, at the urging of a friend who wore cowboy boots and liked plaid shirts. Watson galvanized me to learn bluegrass picking, but under other life inuences and obligations I strayed from this music, and those instruments that had followed me through college, graduate school, assignment in Asia, and then to Washingt on DC, saw less and less use, and gathered layers of dust, eventually taking on the look of an archeological find buried and forgotten under years of household sediment. Something recently triggered a return to music. It could have been my 45th 26
birthday. It could have been the need for a diversion. It could have even been the need for something that could give me solitude even in the midst of throngs of teenagers. Finally, it might have been the need for something to slow me down and connect me to some fundamentals that served me well in years past. All this prompte d me to make a modest investment in two new instruments. The brand names aren’t important, though I will let on that they did cost more than my 35 dollar guitar and my long neck, but far less than the works of art I still eye longingly in Martin and Taylor catalogues. These two additions to my life demand about the same amount of attention as newborns, without the disadvantage of diapers, but at this stage of life fathering a renewed interest in bluegrass atpicking is not that easy. Life still intrudes. Digits remain unresponsive and inexible. Tones blend togeth er in aging ears. Hobbie s take back seats to housekeeping, fathering, profession al responsi bilities. Teenagers are a constant reminder that one’s choice in music is prehistoric, museum quality, mummied and uncool, the choice of “dweebs” and “dinguses,” categories which apparently evolved from the nerds those of us heading for the half century might remember from junior high school. Wives will say anything that might exert a persuasive inuence over the decision to practice and play for another hour. All this combines to make it harder and harder to creep along toward even the most modest of objectives, in spite of the excellent advice and guidance provided in magazines such as this one. Here is how to
fend off some of these obstacles, from the perspective of a reborn beginner. • Inexible Schedules: When you have only 15 minutes to yourself after walking the dog, doing dinner dishes, and the nightly ritual of corralling children for bedtime, you have to thank eternity for any time at all. Setting realistic schedules with as much consistency as possible, and establishing matching modest goals and expectations makes it easier to integrate the guitar into a busy life. If all you can do is to quietly steal 15 minutes before bedtime then you need to prevent your brain from thinking that another 15 minutes is necessary to make any kind of discernible progress. At this point, until priorities clarify and more time becomes available, the beginner has to accept the limitations of a busy schedule, and allowing that scant amount of time to be a pleasurable moment. • Inexible Finger Joints: One of the things that I discovered upon taking up the guitar again is that the dexterity, skillful movement and grace that might have blessed younger hands -- though not necessarily my own -- is replaced by stiffness, limited range of movement, tendinitis, and inept, clumsy tendencies. After decades of using my digits for such mundane tasks as typing, washing dishes, dialing telephone numbers, tying shoelaces, braiding little girls hair, gripping bicycle handlebars, putting change in parking meters, it appeared that the reclaiming the range of motor skills necessary to extract from the guitar the most rudimentary music was going to take a
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
major investment of time, or drastic surgery. Since the Government Employees Health Association was not prepared to allow me to trie with my deductible in the interest of art, I had to gure out a less invasive means of getting my fingers to move in the direction the brain intended them to travel, instead of the odd trajectories they frequently took up and down the keyboard. While none of Jane Fonda’s physical training videos address this problem, I added a exing routine for my ngers to my morning jog aimed at repetitious patterning of nger movements. The oddness of the sight has compelled me to take my morning run under the cover of darkness, but the routine exercise of the digits based on four nger run warmups has contributed to making me more condent and sure-ngered, limbered up my tendons, helped me teach one hand to work with the other in at least a semicoordinated way, and prevented misring in my attempts to walk clearly marked trails over particular frets and strings. It should be made clear that it hasn’t improved my stride on the path; elderly women still double lap me, but I feel that I can chord and pick somewhat more effectively than any of them. • Making Progress, Making Mistakes: Just as is the case in learning a new language, in rekindling a relationship with the guitar one has to be prepared to make embarrassing mistakes, to fuss with a new grammar and to internalize the pulse of the unfamiliar tongue through trial and error. Findin g yourself in a culture that does not shrink from the sound of foreigners struggling over pronunciation helps a great deal; experienced pickers who are willing to have their nger work scrutinized, and are friendly enough to answer simpleminded questions -- how tight should you really grip the pick -- are not necessarily a rare commodity, but may not be available in convenient quantities.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
Getting over the initial embarrassment of playing in public is an extremely difcult step, one that I cannot claim to have achieved. For some, this is the most meaningful way of making strides in competency levels. For others, myself included, a more solitary approach coupled with watching and listening, mimicking, and then listening again is the only socially possible alternative. I have become a great believer in setting aside time to simply move up and down the neck in a random manner, with no goal in mind, separately from learning a particular song or duplicating a run, or accomplishing a warm-up exercise. There are real dividends that spring from attempts to nd out where the notes are without music, tablature, or guidanc e of any sort. Think of this as stretching calistenically from fret to fret, wandering aimlessly until you know the neighborhood well and are able to repeat phrases, nd notes with diminishing difculty, and move comfortably in patterns. • Learning Tools: Once again, as is the case in learning languages, not every tool or method is suitable for each and every student. Videos are a convenience, as are the new machinery that slows down songs and allows slow-motion mimicry. However, some people need to learn graphically and visually. Others can rely on audio devices to communicate skills and ideas. I found videos hard to learn from, and cassettes with accompanying tablature a lot easier to use at a personally satisfying pace. I found lesson books built around measured and progressively more complex skills frustrating, especially when my skills didn't seem to develop in the increments assumed by the canned lessons. I found some books lend themselves to being tackled in a random way, rather than through conventional consecutive chapter by chapter approaches. I found that some writings offered a tiny piece of the puzzle, perhaps disproportion-
July/August 1997
ate to the price of the whole book. I found playing a long with bluegrass on the daily radio program that is transmitted in my area to be satisfying in some odd way, especially when easier waltzes and simple runs prove to be accessible and easily duplicated. Not every book works for every student, and a certain amount of trial and error in experimenting with different educational media is necessary. Libraries can help make this a less expensive venture. Tolerant bookstore owners help too. In the end, some methods t more tidily into some brains, a fact which doesn’t necessarily mitigate against escalating frustration levels but which ultimately offers some comfort when you’ve found the combination of tools that make music accessible to you. I’m not looking for fame now, or even notoriety, in contrast to the way I set about learning the guitar decades ago. When I descended the stairs to my basement years and years ago, and used up gallons of Elmer’s Glue and pine wood scraps, I was aiming for stardom, or at least a way to get more frequent dates. Now, I’m not searching for recognition and success, just solitary moments of happiness. When I go to work I carry a pick in my pocket now, because it sometimes helps remind me of what makes me feel better at the end of a long day. It also helps signal that beyond the laminated security pass and three piece suit there are other possibilities few could ever imagine about me. It’s my way of signaling that I’m playing music again. Lewis M. Stern is the Director of Indochina in the Ofce of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He has written three books, and over four dozen articles, on politics and history of Southeast Asia.
27
Kaufman’s Corner by Steve Kaufman
Chief Sitting Bull triplet at the third fret and then jump to the rst fret and back to the third with the 1st nger. Practice this slowly until your ngers understand their job. As you play and mentally drift away while playing this part you will probably have it drilled into your head. The area of trouble could be the jump to the “F” chord (D triad position) at the 5th fret. Hold down the 6, 5 and 7th frets with the 1st, 2nd and third ngers and let the right hand do the work. This will give maximum sustain. The [B] Part: For the Cm measures- use the 1st nger on the 3rd frets, 2nd nger on the 4th frets etc. The Bb measures are played by holding a 2nd, 3rd and 4th string “F” position at the 6th fret-making it a Bb
Chief Sitting Bull has quickly become a favorite for me. I originally wrote this out in my latest Mel Bay Book “Kaufman’s Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes For Guitar”, then recorded on the accompanying CD (due out late summer). Now I’ve played with it a few more weeks and rearranged it for you- the loyal readers of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine . The [A] Part: The rst part is a bit tricky. You have to hit the hammer-on/pull-off
chord. Let the right hand do the work. The [C] Part: Same ngerings as the [B] part. The [D] Part: This actually changes into the key of G and it’s a nice change from the rst 3 parts. The only place I see trouble in ngering is the jump from 1st to 7th position. Land high with the 1st nger hitting the 7th fret and stay in 7th position. I think this ought to hold you for a little while. If not... meet me somewhere on the road and we’ll wear it out. Keep pickin’ and thanks to those behind the scenes at the world’s greatest Flatpicking Guitar Magazine.
Chief Sitting Bull
Key of C
Arr. by Steve Kaufman
%. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ &4 1
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Chief Sitting Bull (con’t)
b œ œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ b œ b œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ b œ b œ œ & œ B
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© Sleeping Bear Productions 1-800-FLATPIK 1997
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By Brad Davis Imagine jumping into a jam session, taking a solo and watching the jaws of the surrounding pickers hit the ground. Well, thats exactly what happened the first time I ammed with my d-d-up technique. Those pickers heard something new and exciting for the very first time. It was fuel for the fire and so I began to expand my technique by writing songs. Below is the title cut off my new flattop CD on Raisin' Cain Records titled "Climbin'
"Climbin' Cole Hill" bdm/BMI 1997
(Key of G) Line #1
Part One
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Cole Hill." This song is one of the how the double-down-up technique first songs I wrote to expand my changes everything! Clean and new technique. It's not an easy tune Powerful. I suggest getting the and in order to learn it please take companion tape. It contains a time familiarizing yourself with the slowed down version of the song tab notes and their layout first, then and can clear up any tab related try the double-down-up pick mis-translation. markers on top of each measure. If For March/April and May/June issue you know the layout of the melody companion tapes are now available for a it will seem less difficult when fee of $5.00 each. I apologize for the delay applying the pick markers. I can in their availability. Back issues (tape assure you once you hear the and article booklet) are available for companion tape you'll be amazed $7.00.
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Climbin' Cole Hill Con't. Line-G #4 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Climbin' Cole Hill con't. Line-F G S #10 1 2 3 4 5 6
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About the author: Brad Davis has many years of experience as an acclaimed bluegrass and country guitarist. With several albums to his credit, Brad's most widely heard flattop guitar work is on the Sweathearts of the Rodeo's new album titled "beautiful lies" on Sugar Hill Records, White Water debute album "No Gold On The Highway" and Brad's new lattop sampler album titled "Climbin' Cole Hill" both on Raisin Cain Records. Brad's most widely heard electric guitar work is on Marty Stuart's gold record " This Ones Gonna Hurt You" and on Marty's most recent album "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best." Brad debuted his patented "Brad Bender," the string bender for acoustic/electric guitars, and the unique style it offers, on countless national television shows with the Sweethearts of the Rodeo - bluegrass band. Brad also spent several years on the road with the Forester Sisters. Songwriting, record production, and the production of instructional material for Z-TAPE instructional courses are wedged into his tight schedule. Brad's up and coming instructional course is a sixty page book complete with CD titled "The Acoustic Speed picking Blue book" featuring his incredible "Double-Down-Up" speed picking technique.
To order companion audio cassette for this lesson send check or money order and address to: BDM Publishing - P.O.Box 890 - Madison, Tn 37116 Att:Companion Cassette
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
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Break Time The Guitar Kickoff There are a lot of songs performed by bluegrass bands that would benet from a guitar playing the intro, but unfortunately many bands shy away from the guitar kickoff because it can be problematic. The guitar can provide a refreshing change of pace on a medium or up-tempo song, where people are used to hearing a banjo or a ddle. The mandolin is often relied on to kickoff the slow ballads or gospel songs, but the guitar can add a different texture to these kinds of songs, and that can do a lot to increase a band’s versatility. In most cases, it’s not that the other band members secretly dislike you and are therefore shutting you out of all kickoffs. In fact, many of the problems with guitar kickoffs are not even the guitar player’s fault (don’t you feel better now?). What many bands have trouble with is that (A), the guitar is being drowned out so that no one hears the kickoff; (B), the rhythm drops out too much because one of the central components of the rhythm section is otherwise occupied, and (C), the assertive start that the song needs is sounding too much like unfocused noodling (this is the part that we can’t blame on someone else, as fun as it would be). In some cases, problem A is the result of not setting the guitar microphone hot enough in the sound check, which I’m
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by Chris Jones sure is not a mind-blowing revelation to any guitar player. More often though, the problem may lie with the other band members not being willing to lighten up a little bit to allow you to rise above the din. It’s important for all band members to listen to the entire band sound while they play: when I play rhythm guitar I’m also listening to that banjo break. If I can’t hear it over my own playing (what are the chances?), then something is wrong. The other instruments should take this approach with you too. Problem B, would seem to conict with the solution to problem A. The band is lacking drive because the rhythm guitar is not playing through the kickoff. If the other instruments back down, this will only compound the situation, right? Not necessarily. Good steady rhythm, particularly from the bass and mandolin which complements the guitar, will go a long way to providing punch; volume isn’t everything. This is where problem C enters in. The guitar itself must be playing a punchy kickoff with good timing and solid note choices for all of this to come off. In a previous column we talked about the intro to a break, much of which applies here: choose lead in notes that bring you to a solid statement of the melody, even if you take it off on a tangent from there. Practice
the timing of it diligently, and if it doesn’t seem solid, simplify it until it does. Tony Rice has some beautifully complex lead-ins to kickoffs, but few can pull that off the way he does. End the kickoff with a strong nish that makes a good transition to your rhythm playing. One of the reasons that the G-run is so popular at the end of a break is that it ends on that solid resting open G string, which leads perfectly into a strum to follow it up. Think of variations that would work just as well. Once again, keeping the melody central to your solo is even more important in the kickoff of a song, because it’s the rst presentation of the tune to the listener. There’s plenty of time for a lengthy one chord jam variation later in the song. Also, if it helps the other band members, you might consider counting the song off, even if you have lead in notes that you think make it clear when to come in. Sometimes the sound conditions on stage (noisiness of the bar?) or the size of the stage make it necessary. Working together as a group will help make a guitar kickoff as solid as it would be on any instrument, and the principles used are also good for your playing and will be good for band dynamics.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Columnist Prole: Brad Davis Prior to Brad Davis’ success in Nashville as guitarist for Marty Stuart, most atpickers probably knew Brad through his “Tony Rice Style Guitar” course offered through Workshop Records. That is the way we found out about Brad and it is the reason why we rst made contact with him to see if he would be a columnist for this magazine. What blew us away during an interview we conducted with Brad at Merlefest this year was that when he wrote that course and the tab the goes along with it, he was only about thirteen years old. Quite an achievement for a kid not yet in high school! The Davis Brothers Brad Davis, a native of Dallas, Te Texas, xas, began learning to play the classical guitar in 1969 when he was 5 years old. old. Shortly thereafter, his older brother Greg, a banjo player who is eighteen months Brad’s senior, and a friend began playing bluegrass bluegrass on stage as a banjo and guitar duo. Brad says, “I would go and see them play every weekend and it really made me want to get up there and play. play.”” When he was eight years old he got his rst steel string guitar and joined Greg playing on stage shortly thereafter when Greg’s friend had to quit. In the years which followed, the Davis brothers formed the core of several different Dallas based bluegrass bands. Now in Nashville, Brad and Greg Davis are still tearing it up on stage in their newest band “Whitewater.” When Brad rst started playing with his brother, he was simply lling a rhythm role behind Greg’s Greg’s Scruggs style banjo. Later, he fell in love with Norman Blake’s playing and began to learn how to atpick leads. Brad says, “Norman Blake was the guy. I wanted to play just like him. I had seen him play on a TV special when I was about 9 years old and I thought it was great.” Other than taking about a month’s worth of lessons from Joe Carr when he was 8 or 9 years old, Brad is completely self taught. When he was about 12 years old, Brad got some Tony Rice recordings and began to devour the Tony Tony Rice style. Brad says, “I would sit down and learn every song on his albums. I couldn’t learn them note-for-note, note-for-note, but I would get as close as I could. could. I would write them out and I started doing books.” Flatpicking Guitar Guitar Magazine
At the time, Dan Huckabee was playing with the Country Gazette in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and helped Brad publish some of his Tony Tony Rice style solos. That book, along along with another called “Improvising Bluegrass Guitar,” is still available from Workshop Records. Brad’s rst steel string guitar was a Yamaha that he got when he was eight years old. His second guitar guitar was a dream come true, especially since Brad was such a big Norman Blake fan. Brad explains, “When I was about 13, Mom and Dad wanted to buy me my first Martin. Through a guy named Tom Orr, who is a bluegrass song writer in Dallas, they got in touch with Norman Blake and bought a 1956 D-18 that he he had had for years. years. I still have it and use it as my studio guitar for Marty’s records.” Later Brad met Richard Hoover at a festival and was impressed with the Santa Cruz guitars that Richard was making and played those until he got his current guitar of choice, a Collings Clarence White model, from John Holman. The Move to Nashville While playing with his brother in the Dallas-based band Ten Degrees, Brad got a call from Ricky Skaggs to come to Nashville and try out for the acoustic guitar spot in his band. Brad says, “I was just knocked out.”” He moved to Nashville out. Nashville and tried out, but Ricky decided to hired Waylon Patton. In need of a job, Brad went to Opryland and got a job playing playing ddle there. Shortly thereafter,, Brad got a job playing lead guitar thereafter with the Forester Forester Sisters. He kept that job for ve years. When a guitar player spot in Marty Stuart’ss band opened up in about 1989, Brad Stuart’ went to the “cattle call” and tried out. He said that there were about thirty Telecaster players there that were great players, but he got the job because Marty was looking for a bluegrass player who he could mold as an electric player. Brad held that job until May of 1994 when he decided to take some
July/August 1997
time off. Almost a year later, when the guitar player who took Brad’s place got his own record deal and left the band, Marty asked Brad to come back and he has been with him since. Back to Bluegrass Although Brad continues to play and tour with Marty Stuart, he and his brother have also started a bluegrass band called “Whitewater. “Whitewat er.”” He said that they started the band because he was really missing the bluegrass. The band has been playing quite a bit at The Station Inn in Nashville (every other Wednesday night) and has recently released a new CD “No Gold On the Highway.” Also along the bluegrass lines, Brad has just release his new solo CD “Climbin’ Cole Hill.” This CD featu res Brad’s unique “double down up” picking style and includes some tunes that he smoked through at about 196 beats per minute to demonstrate how fast he can zip along using this method. Double Down Up Those of you who have read Brad’s “Nashville Flat top” column in this magazine know that he has come up with a unique atpicking style all his own with his “double down up” picking technique. When asked about how he came up with this technique, Brad says, “I had started
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playing with Greg when I was eight and I was having trouble playing up to speed. I went and saw a Van Van Halen concert in Dallas and Eddie Van Halen had this tap thing that he did. I couldn’t learn the tap thing, but I was trying to duplicate the “machine gun” like sound that he got with his tap technique and stumbled across this pattern. It allowed me to play a whole lot faster. I got with Greg and could nally play as fast as he could, so I started incorporating it into my “style.” I asked around to see if anyone else was doing it to make sure that it was something new and from what I could nd out, it was something that was new.” Although pioneer atpicker George Shuffler and those that followed him incorporated a down-down-up picking pattern in their crosspicking years ago, Brad’s technique is different because his use of this pattern is not restricted to crosspicking. In fact, Brad says he doesn’t use the downdown-up pattern when he crosspicks. His pattern usually works across two strings instead of three or more strings as in crosspicking (see his column in this issue
for some double down up examples). examples). The style has a unique sounds which Brad describes as “humming like a machine gun.” The Brad Bender In addition to the unique double down up picking style, Brad has added another innovation to atpicking the acoustic guitar with his “Brad Bender.” Bender.” The Brad Bender is a string bender attached to the B string on the peghead. A cable runs from the pulling device mounted on the back of the peghead to a pedal on the oor. The B string tuning machine is tted with a cam that allows the string to easily loosen when it is pulled and wind back when the pedal is released. The bender can be adjusted with a wing nut to vary the degree of string pull. It will adjust for a quarter step, half step, whole step, or what ever else is desired. Brad says that being around Marty Stuart so much and seeing him playing the bender on the Telecaster (Marty owns Clarence White’s old Tele), gave him the idea to try and do the same thing on an acoustic guitar.
After his rst stint with Marty Stuart, Brad played for a short time with The Sweethearts of the Rodeo. Rodeo. It was with the the Sweethearts that he first introduced the bender and “worked “worked out the bugs.” bugs.” John Holman helped Brad incorporate his ideas for the bender and attach it to his Collings Clarence White model guitar. Brad says that he had originally only intended to use the bender in the studio, but now he uses it live when playing with Whitewater. Brad likes the pedal system versus a Scruggs/Keith type tuner or a shoulder strap bender because the foot pedal frees up his hands and arms and allows him to play naturally naturally.. In addition to playing in two very active bands and releasing two new CDs on his own label, Brad also continues to produce instructional material for Z-T Z-TAPE APE instructional courses. courses. He is also working working on a sixty page book, complete with CD, titled “The Acoustic Speed Picking Blue Book.”
CLIMBIN' COLE HILL
brad
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Flatpicking Guitar Guitar Magazine
davis
July/August 1997
THE
O
- ZONE by Orrin
Star
Playing Up the Neck - V In my last two columns I showed some of the horizontal and vertical connections between the ve basic closed positions I originally identied as being at the heart of up-the-neck playing. In the interest of clarity I kept the licks used to demonstrate these connections connecti ons very orderly. Yet I also mentioned that real-world closed position playing is not nearly so tidy. tidy. Hence, we now turn to a real solo — one which I play on “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.” (This will be my last “Up the Neck” column for the time being. being. As originally
Flatpicking Guitar Guitar Magazine
agreed with our editor, the O-Zone will now turn to other aspects of atpicking which I am interested in sharing. So, for those of you who have been following along from the outset, this column is your up-the-neck graduation gift. For newer readers — who may find some of this a little hard to decipher — we have two words: back issues.) In order to help you with this tab, I have included not only pick stroke and ngering designations, but also chords and which closed positions are being utilized at any given moment. (Closed positions appear in
July/August 1997
parentheses and are abbreviated as follows: (D-2) refers to a D bar at the second fret.) This solo really moves. It includes many of my favorite ways of navigating between positions. Take your time with it. Also note that you end up holding this C-position mini-bar both times you’re playing over the A chord: 9th fret
I M R
12th fret
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Masters of Rhythm Guitar:
Pat Enright by Bryan Kimsey
The Nashville Bluegrass Band is one of the hottest bands around, and they have been that way right from the start. Banjoist Alan O’Bryant, ddler Stuart Duncan, and mandolinist Roland White solo on a rocksolid foundation laid down by bassist Gene Libbea and guitarist Pat Enright. We had a chance to talk about rhythm guitar playing with Enright at the 1997 Merle Watson Memorial festival. Enright got his rhythmic start not with six strings and a guitar, but with drums in high school. Fortunately for guitar players, that didn’t last long and he soon picked up the guitar and started atpicking, although he didn’t start playing bluegrass for a few years. “I met a banjo player when I was in the service, and got together with him and just start ed playi ng.” To learn his bluegrass chops, Enright “looked at players I admired, like Lester Flatt and Jimmy Martin, and tried to copy sort of what they were doing.” Pat had the good fortune to be stationed in the bluegrass hotbed of Washington D.C. “I used to hear the Country Gentlemen a lot, and just watching Charlie Waller helped me get going.” Pat didn’t intend to become a rhythm player in a top-ight bluegrass band. “I really had no intention of playing music full-time, but I got into a band and started getting some gigs. Over a period of time, I just played with better and better musicians.” Singing was always a priorit y to Pat, and he feels that guitar playing has helped him become a better vocalist. “Being a guitar player helps me with my timing and rhythm and helps me get that bluegrass feel.” When asked what kind of rhythm sound he looks for, Enright replied, “I aim for a simple sound. The simpler the better, although it depends what kind of band I’m playing with. With the Nashville Bluegrass Band, there’s plenty going on, so I just keep a good rhythm and try for a good tone.” Like most good rhythm players, Enright varies his attack and stroke, depending upon what the band is doing. “When the banjo comes in, I’ll sometimes play more on the bass strings, but a lot of what varies is just the dynamics. For instrumental breaks, I might play a little harder and for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
vocals I might get a little quieter. If the mandolin takes a break, I might play a little ‘chunk’ rhythm.” As for dynamics, Enright says “it’s important to not play hard all the time. If you do, you won’t have any punch left-over for when you need it.” Enright also cited the influence of band-member Roland White in honing his guitar playing. “I watch Roland a lot and try to get my right hand as uid and loose as Roland’s.” Like David Grier and Stuart Duncan, Pat is using a Nashville Guitar Company guitar, made by Marty Lanham. “I’ve had it about 3 or 4 years and I love it. Best guitar I’ve ever played. I love the feel of it, too. It’s Brazilian rosewood and Sitka spruce top, really nice old wood. Plus, I live right near Marty and was able to go over and choose the wood and beat on it before it went into the guitar. The neck is a little bit wider than a standard Martin neck and is shaped more like a Gibson neck than a Martin neck. I like a little bit thicker neck.” Before getting the NGC guitar, Enright played a 1957 D-28. “It sounded real good, but it got to the point where it needed a neck reset and had some other problems. Tuning was always a problem with that guitar- I couldn’t capo up the neck because it would go out of tune. The NGC plays in tune all the way up the neck.” Enright and the Nashville Bluegrass Band use and endorse D’Addario strings, with Pat preferring their medium gauge phosphor bronze. “Back when I was poor, I’d just use D’Addarios when we went to record, but now that we’ve got an endorsement, I use them all the time.” Unlike many atpickers, Enright isn’t choosy about his atpicks and uses “anything I can get in a medium or heavier stiffness”. Pat uses a high enough action to get a good strong sound, since he doesn’t play leads up the neck and doesn’t necessarily need a lower action. Pat Enright may not be a high-prole, ashy lead guitarist, but his long career in bluegrass music and role as co-founder of
July/August 1997
the Nashville Bluegrass Band indicate that he must be doing something right. Just as Enright studied his role models when learning to play, young bluegrass guitarists would do well to add Pat to their required listening list.
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A AR B Y SCOT T N YG D
“Talk about your old!”* Here I am out on the road with nuevo banjo-meister Tony Furtado and his band, zipping up and down the East Coast visiting some of the country’s finest and most compact folk clubs. Along with a rhythm section of Kester Smith and Bill Rich, whose credits include Taj Mahal, Paul Buttereld and Jimi Hendrix, we are introducing Tony’s new blend of blues, bluegrass, Irish and funk music to an unsuspecting public. While Tony began life as one of the more talented Fleck/Trischka proteges, he has recently reinvented his music with a dose of the blues. This mirrors somewhat my own re-infatuation with old-time music. Musicians of all stripes, including such non-atpickers as Bela Bartok and John Coltrane, have found that returning to a music which is direct and simple is a good way to renew their musical values. I have frequently found it invigorating and enlightening to revisit some of the oldtime country music which rst captured my attention as a edgling guitarist, whether it be Doc Watson singing “Down in the Valley to Pray,” Clarence White playing “The Crawdad Song,” or Tommy Jarrell ddling “John Brown’s Dream.” Old-time music often spoke to me more profoundly than some of the bluegrass I ran into at an early stage of my musical development. Of course, the reason for this may have been that, while I could almost imagine myself playing guitar or ddle like some of my heroes, singing like Bill Monroe or Carter Stanley was denitely out of the question. At any rate, old-time music’s emphasis on melody and groove became a fundamental part of my musical value system. This emphasis on melody and repetition has all sorts of benets. If you can manage to suppress the desire towards infinite variation and amboyant overstatement, it Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
F L AT P IC K I N G
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is amazing just how good it feels to play the same tune over and over. This hypnotic repetition allows you the freedom to subtly rene the feel of your playing, and as you don’t need to be focussing all your brain cells on the technical requirements of the tune, you can more easily tune in to the nuances of your musical partners rhythm. This is important for beginners, as many people who only attempt to play complex music will remain unaware of the joys of playing in a band when everyone is locked in and grooving, a feeling comparable only to certain activities which can not be discussed in a family magazine. Simplifying the music allows you to really get the rhythm right, and I have long subscribed to the dictum that ‘If the groove is there, I’ll have fun, and if the groove isn’t happening, well…’ Another thing about concentrating on melodies is that when you want to expand your repertoire, you don’t have to go out and learn a new lick to “Salt Creek,” you can go out and try to nd a new tune, or an interesting variation to an old tune, which is the case with the version of “New River Train” I’ve transcribed here. In this way, you may discover some great tunes that you might not otherwise stumble upon in the bluegrass parking lot nearest you. Some old-time tunes have been fortunate enough to make the transition from obscure gem to campground standard. A recent example of this is the tune “Big Sciota”, from the Hammons Family of West Virginia, which seems to be making the rounds, after being recorded by Russ Barenberg, Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer on Skip, Hop and Wobble . This great tune had been around forever. It was included on a compilation released by Rounder in the early ‘70s called Shaking Down the Acorns and was fairly common in the old-time scene, but Russ Barenberg’s wonderful version gave it
July/August 1997
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new life in the bluegrass scene. There are hundreds of other great tunes out there waiting to be blessed in the same way. I must confess to ignorance about the origins of this version of “New River Train”. I learned it from ddler Ruthie Dornfeld and neither of us are overly scrupulous about tracking down the sources of our repertoire. It sounds fairly archaic to me, but it could also be an example of one of those strange sorts of cross-pollinations and musical time-travel that make the oral transmission of music so intriguing. I can almost imagine some mountain ddler hearing “New River Train” on an old country radio show, then fusing the melody with some fragment that had been swimming around in his head. The melody stays true to the standard version until bar 14, and then veers off into a modal resolution which is expanded upon in the second part. The second part, of course, has no relation to any sung version that I know of, but most ddle tunes have two parts, so… For those who are interested in going ‘backwards into the future,” as it were, these kinds of archaic, modal tunes are also great spurs to the kind of one chord jamming indulged in by the likes of Phish, Leftover Salmon, and… Tony Furtado. Well, I managed to tie this little piece off neatly, didn’t I? I hope you enjoy this tune, and if you can, try to sneak it into your next jam session or picking party. It deserves it. * Attributed to magician David Coppereld while touring the Louvre with Claudia Schiffer.
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Arranged by Scott Nygaard
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
The Wayfaring Stranger - Part 1 by Dix Bruce
In this column and the next we’ll work with the traditional song “The Wayfaring Stranger.” I chose it for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it’s exceptionally beautiful and moving. Musically it’s interesting because its tonality moves between A minor in the verse and C major in the chorus and it’s usually performed at a slow to moderate tempo. In our quest to become hot guitarists, we sometimes ignore the minor keys and the slower material. Finally, the melody lends itself well to movement around the ngerboard and transposition to other keys. And that’s what these two columns are all about. Most of the students I’ve taught want to become great improvisers. The rst advice I give them is to memorize the melody of the tune they want to improvise on. Once they’ve done that, I suggest that they learn the same melody either an octave above or below the original, both if possible on the instrument. The idea is to burn the melody into their mind and ngers so that playing it anywhere on the neck is not only possible but second nature. Usually, in the process of moving a melody around and learning it in different positions, slight melodic variations present themselves to the player
Exercise 2
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and a very natural process of improvising begins. The highly motivated players also transpose the melody to other keys which offer different sounds, positions, and musical possibilities. Let’s try a few of these things with “The Wayfaring Stranger.” “The Wayfaring Stranger” is about as close as one can get to being a “greatest hit” of American folk and traditional music. You probably have at least one version of it in your record collection and there are so many versions available that you should have no trouble nding one to listen to. Some of my favorites are Emmylou Harris’ in C minor with Tony Rice on her “Roses in the Snow” recording, David Grisman’s in G minor from his “Dawg Grass/ Dawg Jazz,” and Tony Rice’s in C minor from “Cold on the Shoulder.” If you’re not familiar with this song, listening to one or more of the recorded versions will help you work through the following variations. “The Wayfaring Stranger” is also in my play along book/CD set BackUP TRAX: Old Time and Fiddle Tunes (Mel Bayavailable from Musix, PO Box 231005, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.) On the next page is an arrangement of “The Wayfaring Stranger” with melody
and lyrics in the key of A minor (exercise 1). Play and sing the song through a few times to familiarize yourself with it. Be sure to pick the melody as shown until you’ve memorized it. In measure seven you’ll see an asterisk (*) after the Am. In more modern versions of the tune, like Tony Rice’s, a V chord, in this case an E7, is often substituted for the one minor chord, here an Am. Measure fourteen has another asterisk after the E7. In more traditional renderings of the tune, the four minor chord is played throughout this measure. So, I’ve combined a little of both the traditional and modern approaches. Try each of the substitutions and see which you like best. Notice how the tonality switches to C major in measures seventeen through twenty two and then back to A minor in twenty three with the strong E7 or V pulling the ear back to A minor. See example 2 on the next page. Next try the basic Carter-style version below (exercise 2). It’ll make a great flatpick solo. Here’s an excerpt shown below. You work out the rest.
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
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July/August 1997
3
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etc.
0 1 2
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43
Exercise 1
Traditional, arr. by Dix Bruce
The Wayfaring Stranger
4 &4 Œœ œ œ w
Dm
Am
1
I'm just a
œœ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ w
Poor
Way-far- ing
Stran
-
ger,
2
0
trav' - ling
œœ œ œ
through
this world of
P 2 0
8
0
2 2
2
0
3
3
2
0
0
2
0
0
0 0
Am*
3
Dm
&w
-
,
œ œ œ œ œ ˙. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œœ œ œ w
woe,
And there's no
2
sick- ness
2
2 0
E7 *
15
0
2
2
2
3
Am
go.
I'm go - ing
3
3
0
0
0
2
In that bright
0
0
0
2
2
world,
2
0
C
œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ -
there
0 2
ger,
P
0
w œ œ œ œ
0 0
2
dan -
F
& œœ œ œ w œ to which I
no toil or
to meet my 2 0
2
2
moth -
er,
0
0
0
2
I'm go - i ng 0
2
0 2
2
3
22
Am
E7
F
&w
œœ œœœ w
there
no mo - re
2
to
œœœœ w
roam,
I'm just
go
-
ing
o - ver
P
2 2
2
0
2
2
2
3
0
&œœœ ˙ œœ œœ w dan,
I'm just
a -
go
2
0
0
-
2
2
0
Am
œ œ œ œ œ w ing
2
3
E7
Dm
28
Jor -
a
œœœœ
o - ver
home.
œ
P 2 3
44
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
3
0
0
0
3
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Now let’s go back to the basic melody, without the Carter-style strums, and move it around. The version below takes the
Exercise 3
melody up one octave from the original but still keeps it at the bottom of the neck with lots of open string notes. All the melody
notes are easily reachable if you hold the chords shown. Once we get to the chorus you’ll have a little jump up the neck.
Traditional, arr. by Dix Bruce
The Wayfaring Stranger A m
Dm
w 4 œ Œ & 4 œ œ 1
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ w
0
0
0
P
0
1 2
3
1
0
0
0
2
3 2
2
œ œ œ œ œ ˙ . œ œ œ œ œœ˙ . . w œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ w œ 0
0
0
0
0
2
E7
15
3
2
A m
Dm 0
0
0
1 0
2
3
œ œ œ œ w
P
0
1
1 2
A m
0
3
2
w & 8
œ œ œ œ
F
3 2
œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ
C
H 3
1 2
22
&
P 2 0
0 2
0
5
5
œ œ œœœ w
5
5
E7
0
0
0
œœœœ w 0
1 0
0
3
3
3
0
0
3
œœœœ
0
0
0
2
July/August 1997
A m
œ œ œ œœ w 1 2
0 3
E7
3
0
2
0 3
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
0
1
Dm
P 2
3
œœœœ w 2
& œœ˙.
5
A m
3 1
28
3
2
w
F
3
œ
P 2 0
2
2
45
Now for a real challenge! Let’s move the melody, same octave, to an upper position on the neck with all fretted notes, no
Exercise 4
open strings notes. Before you look at my version, try to gure it out on your own. Start with the A note at the seventh fret
of the fourth string. Use your third nger. After you’ve worked it out, see how it compares to the version below.
Traditional, arr. by Dix Bruce
The Wayfaring Stranger A m
Dm
w 4 œ Œ &4 œ œ 1
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ w
œœœœ
P
7
5
5
7
5
5
5
7
5 4
5 7
7
5
w &
œ œ œ œ œ ˙ . œ œ œ œ œœ˙ . . w œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œœ w œ 8
7
7
A m
7
7
5
7
œ œ œ w œ
Dm
P
5
5
7
E7
15
7
5
5
5
5
A m
5
5
7
54
7
F
5
5
5
7
7
œœ˙ œœœœ
C
H
7
22
&
7
5
P
75
7
5
œ œ œœœ w
5
5
E7
& œœ˙ . 5 4
5
5
7 5
5
5
8
8
œœœœ w 7
5
5
A m
5
8
8
8
5
5
8
œœœœ w
œœœœ
5
5
7 Dm
5 7
8
5
7
w
F
28
46
5
5
7
7 E7
5
5
7
5
5
7
A m
œ œ œ œœ w 7
5
7 5
7
œ 7
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Moving from the open to the closed position will be quite a leap for some of you. Give yourself time to work it out and internalize what you’re doing with your fingers. Even if it takes you months to accomplish, along the way you’ll learn a great deal about the ngerboard and how to play melodies above the rst position. Once you’ve gone through these exercises with “The Wayfaring Stranger,” you’ll be able to play it in two different octaves and three different positions. All of this knowledge will then be applicable to other tunes in other keys. Make it your goal to do this same type of octave and position exercise with any melody or lick you learn. It will vastly expand your knowledge and understanding of the ngerboard. This last closed position melody will be especially useful. Once you can play it easily as written, you can move the whole thing up or down the ngerborad to different keys as long as you keep your ngers in the same position and maintain the relative positions of the notes. That’s what we’ll work on next time as we move “The Wayfaring Stranger” to a couple different keys. Once you’ve got it nailed here in Am, see if you can gure it out in both open and closed positions in D minor, E minor, G minor or other keys and you’ll have the jump on the next column! Good Luck! As always, you can send your comments and questions to me c/o Musix, PO Box 231005, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 or e-mail me at
[email protected] Dix Bruce is a musician and writer from the San Francisco Bay area. His latest project is arranging and recording several songs for the CD Rom driving game entitled “The Streets of SimCity” for MAXIS, due to be released in late summer. The style is basic bluegrass and the band includes Dix on guitar, mandolin and vocals, Jim Nunally on guitar and vocals, Darol Anger on violin, and Avram Siegel on banjo. The group will be featured on a virtual radio station within the game. Dix Bruce can be reached at Musix, PO Box 231005, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. E-mail:
[email protected].
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
47
The Blues Scale Until now, we’ve been dealing primarily with major scales and the modes that are derived from them by changing the order of the notes. Now, I’d like to introduce the blues scale. The blues scale is a six note scale that can add a lot of variety and character to improvisation. The blues scale is an integral part of the sound of many of our favorite atpickers. Because bluegrass chords are usually just triads (Root, third and fth), we have some choices about how we modify those chords. For example, we can often add a dominant (atted) seventh to our chord progression to create more of a blues or ragtime avor. The blues scale accomplishes the same thing except that instead of changing the chord itself, we’re changing the notes of the melody line or improvised solo to add the same character notes. The origins of the blues scale are based on the pentatonic (ve note) scales common to the music of Africans brought to America as slaves. While there are a variety of pentatonic scales, the minor pentatonic (which contains the root, #9, 11, 5 and b7 of the major scale) became the basis for the development of the blues. Ultimately, an extra tone was added between the 11th (4th) and the 5th. This note and the #9 are often called “blue notes” because of their scale origin. It’s the #11 that differentiates the minor pentatonic scale from the blues scale. The great thing about the blues scale is you can often use the same scale to improvise over an entire tune. If you’re new to improvising, a great place to start is simply to practice playing around within the notes of a G blues scale while someone else plays a G,C and D progression behind you. If you have a piano handy, try playing any combination of black keys. The black keys form a pentatonic scale and as long 48
as you omit the white keys, whatever chords you make with your left hand will be complemented by any melody you improvise with your right hand. To add further variety to the sound, you can use a different blues scale with every chord change. Here are blues scales for G, C and D. The examples are set up so the root of the scale starts on the rst beat of the rst measure. Any scale tones below the root are found in the pickup bar.
Now let’s take our scale knowledge and do some improvising.
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Measure 1 starts with a blues scale run but then measure 2 outlines the G chord by staying close to the chord tones. Because we’re leading into a C chord and G is a fth above C, we use the atted seventh in our line to imply a G7 chord (which is why I’ve written G mixolydian mode instead of G major scale. The mixolydian mode is simply a major scale with a atted seventh). Measures 3 and 4 work similarly except that we start with chord tones and then add our colors in measure 4. Measure 5 is a simple blues scale run. In measure six, we literally mix the scales together. We have the #9 (F) from the blues scale which adds color, and next to it, we use the 3rd (F#) which is an important chord tone. This creates a very chromatic line (a line which contains a number of notes that are next to each other on the ngerboard) that sounds interesting but carries a lot of information. Measure 7 uses the same mixing technique to offer a line that contains both the important chord tones and the colors of the blues scale. While there are endless ways to mix blues scales and chord tones, the important thing is understand how to develop lines that provide an interesting contrast between notes that imply the chord changes and notes that color the chords. A good improvised line usually contains enough information about the chords so that it can be played without accompaniment and still convey the essence of the tune. Adding the blues scale to your scale arsenal is a good way to develop your improvisational skills and add color to your sound.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
49
Guitar Making by Don Gallagher
Neck Considerations Nothing can be more frustrating than having a great sounding instrument, but one which is difcult to play. In making the neck of an instrument, consideration has to be given to strength, sound, and playability. Neck materi al needs to be strong and very stable wood. Either maple or mahogany are typical choices for neck material. Maple is the stronger of the two types of wood. It is also heavier. Because of its weight, maple necks are better suited to guitars which have heavier bodies such as arch tops, large acoustic bodies like the Gibson J-200, and bodies made of maple. Matching the neck weight with the body weight gives the instrument better balance and therefore a better feel. Although, not quite as strong, pattern grade Honduras Mahogany is quite strong and a very stable wood. The term pattern grade means just what it implies, that this is a wood which lends itself well to carving pattern s. It is, therefo re well suited to carving out necks. Regardless of the type of wood chosen, the wood needs to be quarter sawn to ensure maximum strength. That is, when looking at the end of the neck, the grain of the wood should be running vertically. The selection of the ngerboard wood also affects the strength of the neck, Ebony is a very strong, dense wood which serves to add additional strength to the neck. Because of its density, ebony also wears well. It takes a lot of playing to wear groves into an ebony ngerboard. Rosewood, the other choice for ngerboard material, will not wear as well as ebony, but it is probably a little less prone to developing hairline cracks. This is because it is an oilier wood than ebony. Fingerboard cracking results when the guitar is in a very dry climate causing the fingerboard to dry out. As it drys out, the wood shrinks. The frets will allow the wood to shrink only so far. Beyond this point, the fingerboard will crack to relieve the resultant stress. Fingerboard woods are routinely dry kilned. Although, no nish is applied to the n50
gerboard, treating it with some type of moisture sealant is a good practice. It is still wise for the musician to apply a small amount of boiled linseed oil to the ngerboard during the wintertime. This will not only enhance the appearance of the ngerboard, but it will help maintain the moisture level in the wood. A neck reinforcement in a steel string acoustic guitar is essential. In the mid 60’s, when we started making guitars, the two types of neck rod assemblies commonly used were the nonadjustable type which Martin used. The T-Bar provided a great deal of strength to the neck -- more than the typical adjustable rod. The added strength and rigidity provided to the neck by the T-Bar had a very positive affect upon the sound of the instrument. A stronger stiffer neck will drive the top better and produce a better sounding guitar. The adjustable neck rod itself had to be relatively small, this means that the rod served the function of adjustment but does not itself add any strength to the neck. The draw-back to the nonadjustable neck rod is apparent. In the mid-sixties, we developed a neck rod assembly which was adjustable from inside the body. By making the adjustment on the inside of the body a larger rod could be used. Using a quarter inch mild steel rod didn’t appreciably add strength to the neck, but it did allow larger threads on the end of the rod which made it more difcult to strip. Stripping the threads would, of course, render the rod useless. The angle of the headstock, along with the pull of the strings, makes the point where the neck joins the headstock a weak point on the guitar. An adjustment opening on the headstock further weakens this point. By making the adjustment on the inside of the body, the strength could be maintained at the headstock area. It should also be noted that a small diamond shaped relief is cut in the back of the necks at this point on our guitars, as well as many others, to reinforce this area. In 1987, we started using a neck rod assembly which Martin and some other
companies had already started using. The new assembly is a U-channel which has an adjusting rod encased within it. This type of assembly offers the best of both worlds. The U-channel provides extra strength and rigidity to the neck, while also providing an easy way to make neck adjustments. This type of unit is adjustable from inside the body. It was when we started using this new neck rod unit that I realized just how important the strength of the neck was to the sound of the guitar. I noticed immediately the positive affect this new neck rod system had on the sound of our guitars. Another advantage of the U-channel neck rod unit is that it ts up against the bottom of the ngerboard. This allows the neck to be cut with a lower prole. The old style adjustable neck rods went deeper into the neck which limited how low a neck prole could be cut. Two other important considerations about the neck are the types of tuning keys used and the type of material the nut is made of. In general, the more precise the gears in tuners are made, the easier it is to ne tune your instrument, the better it will stay in tune, and I honestly think the better your guitar will sound. We have used Schaller tuners on our instruments since 1974 and have been very pleased with them. Waverly is another excellent quality tuner currently on the market. In a good quality set of tuners there should be an immediate response to the shaft when the tuner knob is turned. Any sloppiness between the turning of the knob and the revolution of the shaft will translate into difculty in tuning your guitar and keeping it in tune.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Nothing drove home to me more the importance of the material the nut is made of than a response from Doc Watson the rst time my father and I met him in 1968. As we sat in Doc’s living room listening to him play on a guitar we had with us, Doc commented that he liked the fact we used ivory for the nut. In utter amazement my father asked him how in the world could he tell it was an ivory nut on the guitar. Doc replied he could tell it was ivory because the strings slid so easily over it. Ivory, in my opinion, is the best material for nuts and saddles. Ivory has a self lubricating quality which allows the strings to slide over it smoothly, it is hard so it will last a long time, and it helps produce a strong yet warm sound. However, out of deference to the elephant we discontinued using ivory in the 80’s. Ivory is no longer available on the market. Good quality bone is a good substitute for ivory. Fossilized ivory is expensive, but it will help produce good projection as a saddle and as a nut it wears very well. Connecting the neck to the body is one of the most crucial steps in building a guitar. There are several ways in which the neck can actually be connected to the body. The neck can be bolted on, it can be
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
attached with a dovetail joint, or some type of mortise and tendon joint. A discussion of the different attachment techniques I’ll leave to another article. Regardle ss of the method used to attach the neck to the body, getting the neck attached in the prober relationship to the body will have a signicant impact on the guitar’s playability. When we t a neck to the body of a guitar, our objective is to pitch the neck back at an angle which will maximize the height of the strings off the soundboard, and minimize the height of the strings over the ngerboard. If the neck is pitched back too far, it will be difcult to get a good action at the nut end of the fingerboard and not have buzzes in the 10 to 15 fret positions. If the neck angle is not correct, it will be impossible to achieve a really excellent playing action. If the neck angle is correct, a simple adjustment of the saddle and/or nut can move the string action to where it is comfortable for you. By sighting down the edge of the ngerboard of your guitar from the nut end, you can see easily the angle the neck strikes the body. We will talk in more detail about tting the neck to the body of a guitar in the next issue.
July/August 1997
51
PICKIN' FIDDLE TUNES by Adam Granger FIDDLE TUNE FORMS Hello pickers! In past columns I’ve mentioned ddle tune forms. A form is a ddle tune’s basic structure: the number of measures it has, the number of parts it has and whether or not those parts repeat. We can identify these forms in an economical and efcient manner by totaling the number of measures—repeats included. The most common ddle tune form, for example, is the 32-bar form, which consists of two eight-bar parts with each part repeated (let’s do the math together: 8 X 2 + 8 X 2 = 32). Such a large number of tunes—well over 70%—t the 32-bar form that I call it the “standard form”. The next most common forms are the 48-bar: three repeated eight-bar parts; the 24-bar: two eight-bar parts, only one part repeated; and two different 16-bar forms:
one has two repeated four-bar parts and the other two unrepeated eight-bar parts. These five forms comprise maybe 96% of all ddle tunes. The remainder are virtually all either tunes with four or ve eight-bar parts, or else they’re “crooked” tunes. A crooked tune is one which has a part or parts with a number of measures other than four or eight, or a tune with a measure or measures containing an unusual number of beats ( Cherokee Shuffle is a well-known crooked bluegrass/old-time ddle tune: It has a standard eight-bar rst part and a ten-bar second part). Having dened the various forms a tune can take, let’s lay out a 32-bar tune and see what it makes it pick. We’ll use Ark ans as Trave ler , which is one of 17 bazillion standard form ddle tunes.
Y S A E G B A N T I D A E R
0 0 2 •0 •0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
II 0 0 •0 •0 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 0
C
0 1 0 0 0 0
C
3 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 3 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0
F
0 0 2 0 0 0
F
1 0 0 0 0 0
G 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 • 0 0 0
C
G
G
C
n n
l
e n e
g n t e
imt o
a
n t
s
e
ni
t ki
n p
S
e e b
d
x
e a
b s E
al
h er
y
tu
ir
b
m
s
i
, ta
p p
n mi
o s
c E
a
b tsi
o
lf
y a
a a
ci
d
b
d n
n e
. e o
s
r
, r
u a
ti l
a o
ni
o
f si
w et
te gi
n i
ci
s h
d
a
a
h
ht te
n
t
n d
n a
y
t
et o
s
ta
l iot
u
es
s e
u
a
n
a
i
d
o
f d
es m
.
c si
a
a
e
l
s
.t
w
et
A th
ni
d et
i
o
e
c
ht r
n
e
er .
ti T .t
yl e
ht
h e
o
t
si
ig
s h
a e
ig f
T
ts
re
er h
h
d
ht
e
q
th
e
e
of
n
d
u
er
a d
a
er
ig
er
c
th
re
r er
o
le a
n
h
o
ts
, s
th
m
v
n
te
et
a t
o
ut inl
ni oi
r
is a
s
d
a
s et
a a
o
a
,s re
d at
ta
n
o
et
e at
tef a
m ot a
KEY: D(2)
r e p
C
F
G
C
C
F
C
G
OLD-TIME
F
G
C
F
G
C
0 0 • 0 0 0
0 0 2 0 0 0
0 0 • 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 3 0 0 0 0
10000000000000000 00000001310310010000000000000000000000 003103•••1•1•3•3• 03103•000000003003103•••10100100000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 02002000000 • 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 32000 • 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 3• 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
C
0 0 • 0 0 0
b
: p - , e . , e t d , e u a e d n ” h a n e m p l e k u r e u h t h a r y e u o h t c t r l s s s n m t n c t n n w S t e a h s n a o r e s w g w p y e t c n I o s t o R n d a o s m t y g i t - e w e a n t l a d . i n i n k E a p f o e f i p t m d p n n “ o o k a o r u u r R N e a o o n t e - t - d u r n r u t t n o t s n l o e o e s t n n a w n b O N , i t h l y n t g a p w I o t o u a s w a a r i F n e h d s a d s p o h r d u l n i t G - - . d n t g u h h e p p p t a h o a t e g o E i u e h g u u n i n k n s n i - h s t s i w , r B n T l a s s i s o n n c s t y k w . e t i a a t w r s c e h l e e s e o w c i o t o e t h e h r h d d r T p b t P d e u s t
ARKANSAS TRAVELER I
-
00000000 0•0•00000000000000000000000000000000000000 1•013•3• 0000303100001031000000001•••10100100000000 0000000000000000 2•0•00002•2•0•0•000000002002000000 • 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 32000 • 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 3• 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
F
C
G
C
ANATOMY OF A FIDDLE TUNE (SO MANY NOTES, SO LITTLE TIME. . .) “Okay, everybody stop talking, throw your gum away on your way into the classroom, and let’s get down to work. Oh, and no note passing while I’m writing on the blackboard. . .” One of the most daunting things musicians face is trying to learn a tune “on the y”. A tune played at normal tempo typically goes zipping by at about eight notes per second. The prospect of learning music at that speed is daunti ng. If we understand tune forms though, and even more importantly the inner workings of tunes, learning them is much easier. 52
You’ve no doubt picked up on the fact that, in addition to parts of tunes repeating, certain phrases within those parts repeat also. You may be surprised to discover just how much repeating goes on in a typical ddle tune, and how much of a pattern is created by this system of repeated phrases. And to think that all of this is going on right under your nose!
Once you learn how to discern these phrases you can focus on learning them and plugging them into their proper places in the tune. Also, you’ll become aware of the fact that you’re likely to hear a phrase a number of times during one playing of a tune, and you’ll come to trust that there will usually be another chance to hear and try to learn any given phrase.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
THE PART CHART a theme
a subtag
a theme
a tag
b theme
b subtag
b theme
b tag
Okay, everybody back to work: The chart above illustrates ddle tune parts as I dene them. I call it a "part chart". Each box represents two measures. Each eight-bar part is dividable into two halves. Each half consists of a theme and a tag. Each part’s themes are identical. Since the rst tag happens in the middle of the part and not at the end, I call it the subtag. The theme denes the tune. The subtag resolves the theme the rst time so that it can start over again. The tag resolves the entire part, as though to say, “End of part. You wanna play it again or you wanna go on to another part or you wanna end it here?”
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Now, let’s lay this chart over Arkansas Traveler so we can see how it works with a bona de garden variety ddle tune. For the sake of clarity, I’ve removed the title line information, the accompaniment chords, the part intros, the part double lines, and the repeat signs. a subtag
a theme 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 3 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 2 0 0 0
0 0 • 0 0 0
0 0 2 0 0 0
0 0 • 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 • 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 • 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 3 0 0 0 0
a tag
00000000 0•0•00000000000000000000000000000000000000 1•013•3•0000303100001031000000001•••10100100000000 0000000000000000 2•0•00002•2•0•0•000000002002000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 32000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 3• 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
b theme 0 0 0 0 0 0
a theme
b subtag
b theme
b tag
10000000000000000 00000001310310010000000000000000000000 003103•••1•1•3•3• 03103•000000003003103•••10100100000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 02002000000 • 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 32000 • 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 3• 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Notice how the themes repeat themselves within each part (albeit with minor variations). Let’s add up how many of these measures repeat themselves, and we’ll be able to see what streamlining we’ve accomplished just by dening and understanding ddle tune structure. We started with a 32-bar tune: that’s 32 bars of new stuff to learn. We cut that in half to 16 by allowing for part repeats, then we trimmed another 4 bars off of that by allowing for the repeated theme), and we are left with only twelve bars of new music to learn.
HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY NOW? And now, as a special treat for being such good boys and girls, we’re going to reduce this 12-bar amount even more (I always feel like Monte Hall at this point). Ready? Check out those tags, folks:
AND FINALLY, TWO AND A HARDY
CAVEATS
“HI-YO
1. Not all tunes will have as many repeated phrases as Arkansa s Travel er , although most will, and some will have more. 2. If you learn a tune on the fly,
they’re identical! That removes another two measures, leaving us with a measly ten measures of new music to learn in order to know the entire tune! Here’s another fun way to look at it: Assuming an average of seven notes per measure, a ddle tune has 225 notes. We have reduced that by more than two-thirds to only seventy notes.
Seventy notes, friends! Heck, a chimpanzee
be sure to go back as soon as possible and “clean up” any parts that you don’t quite have down. Also, watch for subtle differences in phrases that you might at rst have thought to be absolutely identical. Well, that’s the scoop on ddle tune structure. My upcoming book on ddle tune
improvisation will cover this in greater detail, but I trust that I’ve gotten you started down the Golden Road to Understanding and Beauty. This acronymizes to GRUB, but don’t dwell on that unfortunate fact: just stay focused, take a cleansing breath and keep on pickin’ them ddle tunes!
can learn seventy notes in his sleep! Well, I hope this dissection makes you less intimidated by the prospect of learning a new tune as it’s being played at full tempo. Just relax, remember what you’ve learned about forms and internal structure, and watch for the repeated stuff.
Adam Granger has been playing guitar since Ike was president. He worked on A Prairie Home Companion for three years, as leader of the house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band. He has judged the National Flatpick Guitar Contest in Wineld, Kansas, and serves on the faculties of The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas and The Stringalong Workshop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His book, Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar , is the largest collections of ddle tunes in guitar tablature, and, along with the accompanying set of recordings of the 508 tunes, it comprises the largest source of ddle tunes for atpickers in the world. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
53
Beginning Clarence White Style Bluegrass Guitar by Steve Pottier Speed is one of the coveted qualities of a bluegrass musician, especially lead guitar players. It is not the be-all, end-all of bluegrass music, but is certainly part of it, and the guitar player has perhaps the toughest time dealing with it. In this issue
I’d like to discuss one piece of the puzzle by looking at a technique Clarence White used in his playing that was inspired by country guitar great Joe Maphis. Take a look at Clarence’s break to the B part of “Fire On the Mountain.” When I
rst heard it I thought there was something wrong with the tape (there wasn’t). This was a live tape with Scott Stoneman playing ddle, and the tune was cruising at 168that’s bass-strums per minute, or a cool 338bpm(!). Here’s the break:
crossing, but for now, lets go back and look at that chromatic lick. It is the key to dramatically increasing your speed in a relatively short period of time. Think about it: playing a lick on only one string, especially the one in measures 5-6 which uses only two ngers, is probably the simplest thing to do. No string crossing! Awkward string crossing limits your speed (try using alternating pick strokes to play
each string on the guitar, and then play six notes on the high E string- which is easier?). Brad Davis shows in his column how he has created a whole style out of avoiding awkward string crossings. Here are some exercises that I have used to increase my speed. I was able to get a dramatic speed increase by doing these exercises for a few minutes a day for only one month!
Fire On The Mountain (B Part)
There’s a couple of things to note about this break. First, measures 5-6 show a repeating lick that is moved chromatically up and down, all on one string. The second thing to note is the fourth note in measure 1. I expect it to be an open 3rd string, but instead Clarence drops down to the 4th string, giving the run more of a bounce. There are other reasons to do this having to do with economy of motion and string 54
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 Œ œ œ œ œ#œ œ w &4
Exercise 1
Exercise 1
1
3 0 5 0 3 0 5 0
3 0 5 0 3 0 5 0 4 0 5 0 6 0
7
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ#œ#œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 &4
Exercise 2
Exercise 2
1
3 5 3 0 3 5 3 0
3 5 3 0 3 5 3 0
3 5 3 0 4 6 4 0
5 7 5 0 4 6 4 0
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ#œ œ œnœ œ œ#œ œ œnœ œœ 4 &4
Exercise 3
Exercise 3
1
5 3 0 5 3 0 5 3
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
0 5 3 0 5 3 0
5 3 0 6 3 0 5 3
July/August 1997
As you do Exercise 1, the main idea is to keep your ngers close to the ngerboard. As you rst nger goes down, the third nger should remain poised over the fth fret, about 1/4” above the fingerboard. Example 1 shows a lead-in using this concept.
0 6 3 0 5 3 0
In Exercise 2, the rst nger is almost stationary with respect to the ngerboard, lifting just enough to let the open string play. Example 2 is the chromatic lick from Fire On the Mountain, makes the exercise a little less tedious. Exercise 3 is a very common gure in bluegrass. Example 3 is a C lick that Clarence might put into “Soldier’s Joy” or “Farewell Blues.” Clarence would use his third nger for the fth fret note, then stretch it over to play the sixth fret the next time around. Once you have these running smoothly at a comfortable speed for you, then push it. Accelerate to where you are hearing total chaos, then back off play it cleanly again, then get your running start and play it faster and faster. Eventually, you want to be playing faster with the same clarity as when you play slow. Try to keep a light touch with the right hand- the pick shouldn’t be opping around in your hand, and neither should you be clenching it tightly. What we are really trying to achieve here is to get better coordination between the left and right hands. The increase in speed you see will carry over into your regular playing, and maybe you will be able to incorporate some of the exercises themselves into your playing. You can also invent your own combinations, using different ngers and different sequences of notes. By the way, there is a nice CD of Joe Maphis on Bear Family records you may want to check out if your interested in hearing one of Clarence’s inuences. He has the speedin’ power. (copyright 1997 by Steve Pottier) email
[email protected]
55
New Release Highlight
Allen Shadd - “A Cut Above” Reviewed by Dave Bricker
If you’ve been paying attention, you may have heard some of the buzz about Allen Shadd, the Jacksonville, Florida, atpicker who took second at the Wineld Championships last year and also at this year’s Merle Watson Festival. Allen started playing when he was seven years old and learned to play bluegrass largely through playing along with country radio. He attended his rst bluegrass festival when he was ten. By the time he was twelve, he was starting to get noticed by some of the performers who would let him sit in and encourage him to play. “Billy Sandlin from the Front Porch String Band was my mentor. I never took lessons from him but he’d always sit down and pick with me. When I was thirteen, T. Michael Coleman dragged me backstage and got me an opportunity to pick with Doc.” “When I was learning to play,” says Shadd, “everyone was copying Tony Rice. I came to have a deep respect for Tony’s playing years later, but as a youngster, I just wanted to be different. I wanted my own voice so I spent more time copying Mark O’Connor and other players like Doc and Dan Crary.” Allen found that his playing had reached a plateau when he was twelve and he began to play banjo. This eventually motivated his guitar playing. “I thought if I could get to the point where I could do anything on the guitar with a pick that I could do with three ngers on the banjo, I’d really be hell on wheels.” Allen got involved with contest playing “mostly for ego reasons.” He rst entered Wineld in ‘79 at fourteen years of age but didn’t place. “I had great expectations because everyone in Florida was telling me how good I was and that I was going to win the contest. It turned out I was a big sh in a small pond.” He’s been back at Wineld since ‘91 when he returned to playing after a six year hiatus. “I was ready to get back into it and I knew that getting ready for Wineld would be a great way to get back in shape. I don’t do it for ego reasons any more though. It’s no good for your ego when you start losing contests to these fifteen year old kids,” chuckled Allen (who had just taken second 56
place to Matt Wingate at the MerleFest competition when I spoke to him). Allen Shadd takes his contests very seriously. Four months before going to Wineld, Allen starts picking out possible contest tunes and by about two months before the contest, he narrows the choices down to a final four and starts working on arrangements. By six weeks before the contest, the arrangements are more or less worked out. “In contests, the judges hear only you. The backup players aren’t piped into the judges’ room. I tape my arrangements and try to make sure they can stand by themselves without accompaniment.” By two weeks before the contest, he practices three or four hours a day and works exclusively on the contest tunes. Allen likes to use parlor sized guitars in contests because dreadnoughts can be boomy and don’t always mic well. “The small-bodied guitars sound more even and I want the judges to hear things clearly.” Allen’s new CD, “A Cut Above” on Mid-Knight Records, is not just a great addition to any respectable flatpicking library, it’s a great bluegrass album in its own right; featuring such notable musicians as Alan O’Bryant, Claire Lynch, Larry Lynch, Billy Sandlin, T. Michael Coleman and Randy Howard along with a host of others, including Steve Pruett on Mandolin, Mark Johnson on clawhammer banjo and Tuck Tucker on dobro. Though laden with more than its fair share of virtuosity, “A Cut Above” is not just a vehicle for instrumental pyrotechnics. This is a tasteful album of
great music which can be listened to for much more than its great guitar playing. Allen gets plenty of chances to show off but takes the job of being a tasteful accompanist just as seriously. He’s out front when he’s supposed to be but never in the way. But make no mistake - this is a guitar player’s album. Shadd opens the CD at high velocity with an original composition; “A Buck and a Quarter” which is vaguely reminiscent of Bill Monroe’s Big Mon. You can get blisters on your ngers just listening to this one. Other notable high-speed guitar originals include the title track; “A Cut Above,” which Shadd describes as “Doc Watson meets Mark O’Connor,” and “Making Tracks,” which gives Allen a chance to burn it up on the banjo as well. Other instrumentals include “Cuckoo’s Nest”; with Allen accompanied by Mark Johnson on clawhammer banjo and Veronica Carey on bass, and “Sister’s Waltz;” another Shadd original which gives us a chance to hear some artful playing at a more accessible tempo. There are some delicious strings of harmonics woven into the solo here. “A Cut Above” is also a vocal feast. An arrangement of “Summertime” features Claire Lynch on vocals and also includes some extra “jam tracks” before and after which are the result of a spontaneous jam in the studio which got caught on tape. For fans of the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Alan O’Bryant’s voice graces such songs as “If You’re Ever Gonna Love Me”, John Hartford’s “Vamp in the Middle”, and Bill Monroe’s gospel classic, “The Old Crossroad.” Whether you’re looking for some guitar playing inspiration or just want to add another great bluegrass album to your collection, I’d recommend “A Cut Above.” The sound, playing and musicianship are all top notch.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
59
Reviews CD/Audio Tape Reviews Mo CanadaStoney Lonesome Doobie Shea Studios, MM-CD-033
reviewed by Bryan Kimsey
Yes, Mo Canada does sound a whole lot like Tony Rice. On the cover of this CD he’s sitting there in a Tony Rice suit, holding a Tony Rice custom guitar, and shoot, he even looks like a young Tony Rice- all he needs is a mustache and ponytail! Keep in mind, though, that Mo was only 15 years old when he cut this album and had been playing about 2 years. At an age and experience level when most people are just getting their rst G-run down, Mo sounds so much like Tony that I had to listen hard to tell them apart on the tunes where they both play breaks. Mo’s got the Tony Rice style nailed down and staked out to dry. And that, folks, is a big compliment, no matter what the picker’s age. While his command of that style is readily apparent on the tunes already associated with Rice: “Stoney Lonesome”, “I am a Pilgrim”, “Whiskey Before Breakfast”, “Little Beggar Man” (aka “Red-haired boy”), and “Blackberry Blossom”, it’s on the other tunes that Mo really shines. On “Huckleberry Hornpipe”, “Small Change”, “Chinese Breakdown”, “Lorena”, and “Clinch Mtn. Backstep” we hear Mo interpret these tunes in his way, incorporating the picking vocabulary at his command at this time, and get glimpses of how that vocabulary might develop in the future. On this CD, Mo’s technique is already 60
well-devolped and he plays with great tone, excellent timing, and snappy articulation. He’s supported and surrounded by Rickie Simpkins on mandolin and ddle, Ronnie Simpkins on bass, Tony Rice on guitar (some cuts), and his dad, Ed Canada, on banjo (some cuts). It’s not hard to predict a great atpicking future for Mo Canada, especially after he gets some years of experience under his belt and develops his own style. He’s got a tremendous foundation built already and all he has to do is listen around and keep on picking. But beyond all my “gee, this kid’s good” gushing, this CD is just plain ol’ good atpicking guitar music with some great mandolin and fiddle breaks as an added bonus. It will make a great addition to your CD collection and you can steal breaks from the lesser known tunes like “Small Change” and “Chinese Breakdown”. Oh, and Mo? I want to hear some singing from you on your next album!
Steve Kaufman Bullet Train ©1997, Sleeping Bear Production
Anyone who has heard the versions of ddle tunes from Steve’s instructional materials knows that he comes up with intricate, yet tasteful, arrangements of traditional tunes. But this takes things to a whole new level. It’s not just that the picking is lightning fast (where appropriate), crisp, and clean. There are some slow tunes, too. There are three Kaufman originals ranging from moderate to blindingly fast. There are even a few vocals. It’s not just that the variations are fresh, intricate, and tasteful. We already knew he could do that. It’s not just that he plays all the instruments on the recording - six-string guitar, seven-string guitar, six-string banjo, mandolin, and mandolin-bass. It’s all that, plus the way he weaves it all together into seamless fabrics of sound. For cryin’ out loud, the man trades licks with himself on different instruments! Yet it never sounds like multiple recordings by one person. It sounds like the world’s greatest atpicking ensemble. Sorry, I got carried away. I guess I’ll go lie down and let my heartbeat drop back to normal. The Tunes:
Reviewed by Mike Wright Well, I can sum this CD up in one word: Wow!!! It’s hard to know what else to say. I don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed with a atpicking album. I hope that someday science will be able to tell us how the Three Time National Guitar Champ does what he does. In the meantime, we get to listen to some amazing music.
Bonnie Kate’s Reel Talkin’ Guitar Blues/Blackberry Blossom Ookpik Waltz Les Petites Guitars Bayne Water Midnight on the Water Texas Gales Coolie’s Reel Jailhouse Blues Greensleeves Woodchopper’s Reel Miller’s Reel Bonaparte’s Retreat I Still Can’t Say Goodbye Gilderoy D.S. al Fine Shinkansen (Bullet Train)
Order directly from: Steve Kaufman P.O. Box 1020 Alcoa, TN 37701 Phone: 800-FLATPIK (423-982-3808) http://www.aros.net/~tboy/kaufman.html
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Flat Pickin in the Kitchen with Norman Blake and Tut Taylor Tutlee Records
Tut is great on the atpicked dobro. The use of a atpick requires a different style of attack than we normally hear from finger-picked dobros. It’s almost like a totally new instrument - more direct and dynamic, which to my mind makes it t better with the other bluegrass instruments than the traditional dobro. Norman also shines here. In particular, he absolutely burns up the strings on “Arkansas Traveler.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard it that fast and that clean. (This break is tabbed out on page 9 of this issue.) In the liner notes, Tut says, “This is Volume One of the Tut Taylor Archival Releases. There will be others to follow.” I can hardly wait.
Reviewed by Mike Wright The Tunes: This recording is a compilation of tapes made from approximately 1970 through 1973. They are basically jam session recordings made in various locations including Norman Blake’s kitchen. Most of the numbers include Norman Blake on guitar, or occasionally on mandolin. He even plays dobro on “Steel Guitar Rag.” Tut Taylor, the famed “Flatpickin’ Dobro Man”, plays dobro on many cuts, but also shows himself to be a ne mandolin picker on many others. Other musicians on the recordings include John Hartford on low banjo, Curtis Burch on dobro, Vassar Clements on ddle, Butch Robins on guitar or bass, Sam Bush on bass, and lots of unknown pickers on a variety of instruments, including guitar, mandolin, mandola, and mandocello. Musicians that are supposedly included, but not credited on any specic cut include Charlie Collins, Jim Johnson, Randy Wood, Radio John, and Grant Boatwright. There are lots of traditional tunes, and quite a few Tut Taylor compositions. Most are instrumentals, though Norman sings “Little Bessie” and “The Electric Telephone,” and John Hartford sings “Banks of the Ohio.” Considering that these are not studio recordings, they sound mighty good. The sound quality is generally fine, and the musicianship is not of the raggedy kind that I see at most jam sessions that I’m involved in. (No surprise, considering who’s playing.) There are also some great moments here of the kind that appear when talented pickers are feeling a bit less constrained than they might when recording an album in the studio. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
Running Wild Goodlettsville Express Midnite at Beanblossom Train Wreck Little Bessie Lost Indians Arkansas Traveler Steel Guitar Rag Banks of the Ohio Liberty Westgate Fire in the Resonator Rosinea Weave and Way Break-out In the Old City The Electric Telephone Bad Blake’s Blues Cakewalk Ode to Lloyd Pickin Flat Ragweed Fire on the Mountain Memories
Tutlee Records 1627 Lisa Drive Maryville, TN 37803 Phone: (423) 977-8181 FAX: (423) 9 82-5065 Email:
[email protected]
July/August 1997
Jack Lawrence About Time
Reviewed by Mike Wright I’ve really become conscious of Jack Lawrence over the past year, although I’d heard him a lot over the thirteen years that he has played with Doc Watson. I even got to chat with him briey at a show they did in Soquel, CA quite a few years back. But it was seeing him on some videos that I reviewed for this magazine that made me fully aware of Jack as a great picker in his own right. Now I’m amazed that it has taken this long for him to nally come out with his own album. It really is “About Time”. The album is primarily vocal, with only three instrumentals out of fourteen songs, but the picking is all rst-rate. Jack has his own style and plays some really tasty variations on both instrumentals and breaks to vocals. There are lots of ne back-up musicians as well, including Doc Watson on guitar; Don Lewis and T. Michael Coleman on bass; Mike Auldridge and Kevin Maul on dobro, Jimmy Gaudreau, Charles Pettee, Tony Williamson, and Don Lewis on mandolin; Craig Smith on banjo; and Don Lewis on fiddle. Doc Watson, Moondi Klein, and Russell Johnson provide harmony on most of the vocals, with only Georgie being sung solo. Of the vocals, my favorites are the two traditional tunes, “Mary of the Wild Moor,” which is an old-fashioned tear jer ker sung by Jac k and Moondi Klein with great feeling and expressiveness, and “Georgie,” done a bit slower than Doc did it and accompanied only by Jack’s guitar and Robbie Link on bowed bass. This CD also includes the instrumental “Ten Miles to Deep Gap,” which appeared in the March/April 1997 issue of this magazine. 61
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The Tunes: Stagger Mt. Tradgedy Never See My Home Again Up This Hill and Down Bye Bye Blues Walking Into Wichita She Made Me Lose My Blues Cora is Gone Ten Miles to Deep Gap Georgie If You’re Ever Gonna Love Me Mr. Spaceman Mary of the Wild Moor Stoney Creek She Ain’t Waitin’
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Brad Davis Climbin’ Cole Hill Raisin’ Cain Records
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“I consider [Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar ] and companion cassettes a bargain for any traditionally-oriented guitarist with an interst in atpicking ddle tunes, regardless of level and experience.” – BLUEGRASS UNLIMITED
Also-Available:
COMPANION CASSETTES Ideal Learning Tool!
Reviewed by Dave McCarty
Five 90-minute tapes (100 tunes each) Played by Adam on Guitar Lead on Right – Rhythm on Left $13.95 each, or $59.95 for complete set plus $1 per tape/$2.50 per set p&h
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Rhythm Guitar How to Practice with the Metronome Fiddle Tunes and Variations 62
Ready for a brand-new atpicking guitar sound? Look no further than Brad Davis' "Climbin' Cole Hill," his showcases atpicking guitar CD. Already well-known to Flatpicking Guitar readers as the author of our monthly "Nashville Flattop" column, Davis brings his pioneering atpick style to life on 12 tunes presented here. The second tune here, "Bradford Rag," amply shows why Davis is on the cutting edge of atpicking. Just when the listener thinks he has the song, not to mention Brad's picking style, gured out, he abruptly throws in not only a startlingly quick urry of notes played in his "down-down-up" right hand technique, he also reveals a mechanical advantage never heard before on acoustic guitar - his own version of the B-string bender rst created by legendary Clarence White.
The jangly, pedal-steel sound emerging from Davis' Collings Clarence White guitar clearly demonstrate that this is a player unwilling to settle for just the sounds anyone else has found on the instrument. Over the rest of the CD, Davis pushes through a variety of musical barriers. He rips through hard-core progressive bluegrass on tunes like "Climbin' Cole Hill" and "Rushing The Gold." On the cool, breezy originals "Aderondike" and "Diver's Waltz," he evokes the same melodicism and dynamic flow Tony Rice captured on records like "Backwaters" during his earlier, "spacegrass" period. The author of all 12 tunes here, Davis has managed to create a couple of very memorable flatpicking tunes, especially "Old Town Blues" and "Signal Hill," which could well wind up as modern classics. Of course, whenever anyone takes the kinds of musical risks Davis does here, not everything will work out. Not surprisingly for someone with such obvious electric guitar influences, Davis' tone at times comes up harsh and tinny, even metallic. That tendency eases the more he plays up the neck. "Climbin' Cole Hill" could set the stage for a whole new phase in the evolution of atpicking guitar, moving away not only from the traditional concepts of atpicking techniques, but also in terms of the sounds it's possible to extract from a simple acoustic guitar. If you're up for the journey, "Climbin' Cole Hill" will take you places you've never been before. Two of the songs from this CD, “L:aural Canyon” and “Climbin’ Cole Hill,” have been presented in Brad’s Column “Nashville Flattop.” The Tunes: Climbin’ Cole Hill Bradford Rag Laural Canyon Old Town BLues Aderondike Hides Ferry Line Signal Hill Skutland Rushin’ the Gold Divers Waltz Boom Town Look My Way Correspondence/Orders: Brad Davis PO Box 890 Madison, TN 37116
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Video Tape Reviews Great Guitar Lessons: Bluegrass Flatpicking Homespun Tapes VD GFL-FLO1 Reviewed by Jim Coen
Have you ever stood gazing at a rack of instructional videos and felt anxious about plunking down 40 or 50 bucks for one? Or have you ever ipped through a catalog describing how great every lesson is and felt just a bit skeptical about their claims? If you have, then the recently introduced Great Guitar Lessons series from Homespun Video will be a Godsend. The idea behind it amounts to a budget priced “greatest hits” collection from Homespun’s most popular lessons. The first in the ser ies is Great Guitar Lessons: Bluegrass Flatpicking , a 75-minute tape featuring clips of Happy Traum, Nick Forster, Russ Barenberg, Steve Kaufman, Dan Crary, Norman Blake and Tony Rice. The tape will be most useful to intermediate level pickers, although the rst segment is a comprehensive atpicking lesson by Happy Traum. He covers the essential techniques - holding the pick and alternate picking - and suggests exercises using chromatic and diatonic scales. Traum teaches a basic version of “Wildwood Flower” before moving on to a fuller arrangement, adding bass runs and embellishing the melody. The next lesson, how to play Texas swing style chordal accompaniment, is Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
considerably more difcult. Fiddler Tim O’Brien performs “Sally Goodin” while guitarist Nick Forster plays rhythm, using familiar standard open chords. He then demonstrates how to jazz up the accompaniment with diminished, augmented and ninth chords. This is a fingerbusting workout geared to players with advanced rhythm chops. Putting Forster’s lesson after Traum’s primer is puzzling because most viewers of a bluegrass atpicking lesson will presumably want to learn melodies rst. This ne lesson on accompaniment should have been placed near the end of the tape. Russ Barenberg teaches “For J.L.,” a slow tempo, pretty tune that will help atpickers bring an added dimension to their playing. Rather than pick each note, Barenberg often uses nger slides to make his playing sound uid. He also discusses how vibrato and ornamentation can make one’s playing more expressive. “For J.L.” is a fairly simple melody to grasp, and will be a welcome addition to any atpicker’s repertoire, especially those who primarily play faster tunes, as this will diversify their matenal. Barenberg is joined for this lesson by Happy Traum who plays back-up guitar, and they conclude this segment with both playing rhythm so that the student can play lead to their steady accompaniment. Of all the instructors on this tape, Steve Kaufman is the one with the most teaching experience, and it shows. His explanations are succinct and clear; his demonstrations, enlightening. Here, Kaufman teaches just one tune, “Liberty,” but covers a plethora of playing tips - chord arpeggios, and how to play them fast and clean, use of open strings to ll out an arrangement, back-up chords and bass runs. A crosspicking variation on the beginning of the tune is also taught, as is a right hand exercise for building up crosspicking accuracy. Dan Crary introduces a valuable tool for solo atpickers during his lesson. He shows how to achieve a “nice, droning undertow” for tunes in the key of D by tuning the low E string down a whole step to D. The three bottom strings are thus tuned DAD, enabling you to get a droning D chord ringing out on the bottom strings while you pick melodies on the treble strings. Crary uses “Arkansas Traveler” to explain all of this, and goes on to present an advanced version for those already familiar with this classic, traditional American tune. Norman Blake explains the approaches responsible for his distinctive sound,
July/August 1997
Individually Handcrafted Acoustic Instruments
Lucas Custom Instruments P.O. Box 1404 Columbus, Indiana 47201-9998 (812) 342-3093
63
including why he frequently capos at the third fret including why he prefers to play within chord shapes as much as possible. He does this by teaching one of the timeless tunes that he plays so well, “Whiskey Before Breakfast.” Tony Rice discusses capos too, and gives advice on how to buy a good one and how to properly apply it to the guitar to keep the instrument’s tuning from going sharp. You may think this sounds like trivial information, but remember, there are a lot of subtle reasons why Rice sounds better than most atpickers. Do not take anything he says with a grain of salt. In a lesson that will aid guitarists who double on vocals, Rice sings and plays “Church Street Blues,” livening up the song’s simple chord progression with intricate cross picking and tasteful licks between the verses. Great Guitar Lessons: Bluegrass Flatpicking provides guitarists with an
expansive overview of atpicking styles and enough background to decide if investing in a full video lesson from a particular instructor will be worthwhile. This compilation tape is as good a buy as you will get in the video lessons market.
Norman Blake’s Guitar Techniques Homespun Tapes
The accompanying notes state that this video is aimed mainly at the intermediate guitarist, but I’m sure that even advanced guitarists who play a different style will learn a lot from it. The focus is on getting the fullest possible sound when playing traditional music with little or no accompaniment. Norman teaches three instrumentals Whiskey Before Breakfast, Prettiest Little Girl in the County, and Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine. He also teaches both breaks and backup for three vocals - The Wreck of the Old ‘97, Gray Coat Soldiers, and Ginseng Sullivan. The latter two are examples of his outstanding writing skills. Everything is shown in great detail. The songs are played up to speed, then Norman breaks them down into manageable fragments. In addition to left-hand ngering details for all the tunes, there are extensive, detailed discussions of right-hand atpick rolls and cross-picking, chord-based playing, and the use of open strings. Tablature is also provided for all of the songs taught in the video. Norman is accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and he talks about her backup technique. Norman also talks about his general approach to traditional tunes, how he holds and uses the flatpick, how he customizes his own atpick, the use of the capo, string gauges, and the guitars that he and Nancy are playing. ©1990, Homespun Tapes Ltd. Box 694 Woodstock, NY 12498
Reviewed by Mike Wright The rst time I heard Norman Blake, I thought that his guitar style was fairly simple and straightforward. After a while, I realized that it is not simple, it is subtle. This video is a good way to learn some of Norman’s subtleties. 64
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Gear Review SMALL DOG CASE COVERS Perhaps the most practical reason for using a case cover is to keep your case from getting banged up. I once had a case that was held together with generations of electrical and utility tape (funky, but not terribly chic). Another reason for case covers is to offer additional protection against the elements, most notably excessive uctuations in temperature and humidity. Small Dog Case Covers are a well made product designed to the rigorous needs of a traveling musician having been developed by a working road musician to meet his needs. Made by hand in Massachusetts with an outer shell of waterproof high tenacity packcloth--the same kind of material used for high end back packs--with a durable polyester eece lining, Small Dog Case Covers offer exceptional protection against the elements. The eece lining acts on the same principle as an ice chest, creating a pocket of dead air to insulate against temperature change. It works. Recently I had to keep my guitar in my car all day--including a round trip drive from Boston to New Hampshire with an outdoor temperature of about 15 degrees. After some ten hours riding in a car, the guitar was only slightly cooler than room tempature when removed from the case. In fact, the guitar nearly kept its tune. Small Dog Case Covers were designed by a working musician and it shows in all the small details. There are no metal parts (the zippers are nylon) to corrode or cause potential scratches. The large pocket can hold a number of books--A Steve Kaufman Parking Lot volume, The Fiddlers Fakebook, and assorted magazines fit neatly. In addition to the shoulder strap, which is designed to help distribute the weight of the instrument on your side, there is also a unobtrusive strap on the lower bout of the case to help unload your gear when placed in the back of a van. Even the color scheme, black with pewter pocket comes from the musicians need to avoid standing out. While some products on the market scream “look at me,” Small Dog offers a far more subtle look. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
by Joel Stein goes the cliche, and the story of Small Dog reads like a case study. In the early 90’s, Jim Rohrer was playing mandolin for Southern Rail and driving a truck for his day job. “I had been frustrated trying to nd a good case cover for my O’Brien (Jack O’Brien, Jaffrey, New Hampshire). I had a shaped F style case, but there weren’t any good covers on the market.” While driving his truck route, picking up recyclable material for an interactive exhibit at Boston’s Children’s Museum, Rohrer noticed that one of his regular stops was Cavallaro Case Covers. While Cavallaro specialized in wind and early instruments, Rohrer was able to convince them to custom make a shaped cover for his prized O’Brien. As Rohrer toured with Southern Rail mandolin players, and later guitarists, would ask him where he got his case cover. By 1993 Small Dog was born. One of Small Dog’s unique features is that they will custom make a case for any instrument. The price sheet lists 28 different guitar styles--from Martin, Taylor, Calton, Mark Leaf and more. Indeed a strong competitive advantage for Small Dog is that they will custom make a case for virtually any instrument. “A while ago, we made a case cover for an 1890’s Martin cofn case. I thought we would never make another like it. Sure enough, a few weeks ago, we got an order for a Martin cofn case...One of the most fun projects was for this fellow who made his own lap steel. We made a case cover with four pockets--one for each leg.” At present, Rohrer says, Small Dog has some 60 guitar, 20 mandolin and six banjo patterns on le. “We’re also recommended by Taylor, Gibson and Calton,” Rohrer says proudly. He is also quick to add that Small Dog was the winner of the best case cover by Acoustic Musicians Reader’s Poll. Small Dog has a strong list of notable endorsees like Robbie McCroury, Scott Vestal, Kenny Smith, Herb Pederson and many more. While not endorsers, you might just see a Small Dog case cover at concerts by many of Nashville’s leading players and noted personalities. While Rohrer has recently sold Small Dog to Cavallaro, he will remain as a consultant to the company. “I set out to
July/August 1997
make the nest product I could--I wouldn’t sell something unless I believed in it and used it myself,” says Rohrer. “Our cases are still hand made in Massachusetts,” he continues, “all the cloth is milled here in New England. We use no overseas labor, and maintain strict quality control.” Small Dog case covers are a sound investment. They do, however, require a period of adjustment. Because the D-rings for the shoulder strap are placed to evenly distribute the weight of the instrument on your shoulder, the strap hooks are on different sides of the case requiring the strap to be removed when opening the case. For this reason, the strap can be inconvenient on the guitar size covers. On the mandolin covers this is not an issue. The material used is easy to clean with a damp sponge and can be machine washed but should not be machine dried. Small Dog Case Cover 1-800-732-3016 or at many major music stores Review by Joel Stein, Sharon, MA
[email protected] 65
Vintage Voice
by Buddy Summer
The slogan on a box of Morton’s table salt is “When it rains it pours.” This catchword bit of terminology describes my present situation in regard to locating vintage guitars that are for sale to a “tee.” During November 1996, our local newspaper, The Daily Times , published a weekend edition of their newspaper. This weekend edition included an interview that one of their top reporters had with me a few days earlier concerning my interest in vintage and limited edition guitars. This interview was accompanied by about a half dozen group guitar photographs. Having been well presented, this article got the attention of the local folks . . . it also got the attention of the Associated Press. Soon a condensed version of the originally published interview was appearing in newspapers from Maine to Miami and from Virginia Beach to San Francisco. Within a few days the telephone calls started raining into our house from various states across our great country from people who had read the article in their local newspaper and had an old guitar they wanted to sell. Mr. Rob Wilds from television station “WDCN - Channel 8” in Nashville, Tennessee, called to let me know he had read the article in Nashville’s Tennessean . Mr. Wilds is responsible for obtaining interesting “human interest” stories for Channel 8’s “Tennessee Crossroads” television series. This television program is broadcast over the Public Broadcast Stations around Tennessee and surrounding states at different intervals. Mr. Wilds was interested in lming an interview about essentially the same thing that the newspaper article had been about my vintage and limited edition guitar collection and my interest in guitars. A lming appointment was made for the morning of January 22, 1997, at our home outside Maryville, Tennessee. Several days prior to the appointed interview time, preparations were made for the lmed interview and soon the television crew was in our home busily lming a spot 66
for “Tennessee Crossroads.” About five hours lming was condensed into fteen minutes of television time. The “Tennessee Crossroads” program began being televised over the Public Broadcast Stations in late February and continued for several days thereafter. Within hours of the rst broadcast in West Tennessee, the telephone calls started pouring in and haven’t stopped yet. “When it rains it pours.” As mentioned in “Vintage Voice” in the second issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine it seems as if when one least expects it, a great opportunity to acquire a ne vintage musical instrument presents itself. The reason I wanted to share my experiences of the last few months with the readers of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is to emphasis the fact that there are many very fine vintage musical instruments available today to those of us who desire one. Sometimes they may seem a little difcult to nd but believe me, they are out there. Sometimes they may seem a little “pricey” but I always look at the right one as an investment that will appreciate in value and not as an expenditure . . . such as a new automobile that will cost you a bundle to purchase, operate and maintain, yet loses value each day. One can enjoy the sweet tone, volume and playability of a wonderful vintage guitar for a lifetime. The remaining Vintage Guitar Checklist items as published in the first issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine will be discussed during this issue of “Vintage Voice” and the complete checklist along with comments about each item will be published in the next issue. This completed checklist with comments about each checklist item will be referred to as “The Expanded Vintage Guitar Checklist.” It’s sort of like the “Expanded Preliminary Cockpit Checklist” for a Boeing 727 Jetliner . . . when one uses the written checklist one is a lot less likely to overlook something important.
Vintage Guitar Checklist Item #13: Check for loose or broken braces by tapping on the guitars top and back. Broken or loosened braces inside the guitar body are no longer doing the job they were designed to do and corrective action must be taken. Without this corrective action tone and volume certainly diminish. To help determine the condition of the braces inside the box, other than the visual inspection with a ashlight and mirror, one can hold the guitar by the neck to suspend the guitar body in mid air and sharply tap on the guitar’s back and top. A right handed person would probably hold the guitar by the neck with the left hand and tap rmly with the middle nger of the right hand at various places on the back and top. What one would listen for would be for a loosened or broken brace to rattle. The more pronounced the rattle, the worse the brace condition. Usually a loosened brace is easily repaired by applying glue between the brace and the guitar’s top or back. A shim can be used to open the space between the brace and the top or back so as to allow the old glue to be removed and new glue applied. The new glue is usually applied directly to the troubled area with the aid of a glue lled syringe attached to a hypodermic needle. Once the new glue is applied the shim is removed and the brace is held rmly in place until the glue dries by means of a clamp. Usually this brace reglueing can be accomplished by working through the sound hole without having to remove the top from the guitar. Broken braces often need to be replaced rather than repaired and replacing broken braces that are too badly damaged to be repaired usually does require that the guitar top be removed. It should be noted that the bracing wood needs to be the same type wood from which the top was made. When the guitar top has been removed for brace work, it’s simply reinstalled once the brace work has been accomplished and the guitar’s tone and volume should return to normal. Simple brace work such as reglueing braces
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
doesn’t have a detrimental effect on the originality or worth of the guitar, but brace replacement is a different matter. Vintage Guitar Checklist Item #14: Check straightness and correct position of bridge. During a thirty year career in the eld of aviation much of my time was spent trying to stay along the centerline of something . . . a taxiway if taxing, a runway if taking off or landing, an airway if enroute from one airport to another, or a localizer/glideslope if making an instrument approach for landing to an airport during reduced visibility. It was very important then as it is today. It’s just as important to the tone, volume and playability of a guitar that the guitar be built around the centerline of the guitar top. As mentioned in checklist item #7, the bridge area of the guitar top is a critical area. If the guitar’s scale is 25.4” then the distance from the nut to the saddle should be 25.4”, the saddle being slanted so as to compensate for the different string core diameters. If this distance is changed by the bridge being too far aft, or forward, then so is the guitar’s intonation changed. When one plucks a guitar string, the string’s vibration is transferred to the top via the saddle and bridge at which point the vibration radiates across the top from the bridge area. If the bridge is not lined up equal distance from the sides of the top and not on “dead center” with the top’s center seam then the vibrations radiating from the bridge area of the top reach the sides at different times and balance along with tone is adversely effected. Usually during guitar construction the bridge, nut and saddle installation are among the last things to be done before the guitar is “strung up.” A measuring devise is used to determine where the treble “E” string should break across the saddle and the guitar top is marked at this position. Each additional string’s position is compensated for its different string core diameter. The bridge is marked so as to allow the center to be aligned with the center seam of the guitar top. A measurement can also be made from the bridge corner edges to any given point to make sure the bridge hasn’t twisted and is straight. In a nut shell, the bridge has to be positioned correctly to allow for proper top vibration and the saddle has to be positioned correctly within the bridge to allow for proper intonation. One can make a visual check to see if the guitar’s top center seam falls evenly Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
between the third and fourth bridge pin holes and take different measurements to help determine that the bridge is correctly installed around the center line of the top. When all component of the guitar are properly installed, aligned, braced and are of the right woods, sawn correctly the guitar can’t help but be a winner. The guitar should be built around the centerline of the top.
Flatpicking Guitar Back Issues Still Available
Vintage Guitar Checklist Item #15: Be sure to play the guitar in order to determine tone, feel, playability, etc. Just as surely as different people require different sizes and features in their shoes different people require different sizes and features in their guitars. It’s not a oneguitar-suits-all proposition. The neck width and string spacing that a person with a large hand requires would probably be different than the neck width and string spacing requirements of a person with a small hand. A nger picker’s guitar may not be suitable for a atpicker, some folks like more sustain than others, and some prefer a brighter sound over a more bassy sound. The list is as varied as the people are varied. The only way one can know for certain that a particular guitar is suitable for one is to actually inspect the guitar carefully and to play the guitar to evaluate its many different characteristics for one’s self. Sometimes one may have to own several different guitars for a period of time to establish what one truly desires in a guitar and if such is the case, then so be it. When one does know exactly what one prefers in a guitar and is unable to nd one’s dream on the secondary market one needs to remember that just about all instrument builders can custom build a guitar to exact specications and would be happy to do so. Vintage Guitar Checklist Item #16: Check originality of case. Although the case the guitar came in has absolutely no bearing what-so-ever in regard to the tone, volume or playability of the guitar itself, it surely would be nice to have the original vintage guitar case to accompany an original vintage guitar. In most instances however, one is not so lucky. The guitar’s case is to house the guitar in, transport the guitar with and to protect the guitar during storage and transport. The guitar case itself usually takes the abuse in order to protect the guitar. Therefore, a guitar case that has been protecting a ne vintage guitar
July/August 1997
$4.00 per issue plus 50 cents postage per issue Send Check or Money Order to: High View Publications P.O. Box 51967 Pacic Grove, CA 93950 or Call 800-413-8296
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for fty years or more has usually been discarded and replaced with a new protector. Occasionally one lucks up and obtains the original vintage case with the purchase of a vintage guitar. When one does one sometimes stores the original vintage case and purchases a new case to take over the job of the old case. This action would be taken to protect the original vintage guitar case insofar as they are so rare. If this is done then thirty or forty years later one still has the original vintage case for one’s original vintage guitar. It sure does make things more original. The very old C.F. Martin Guitar cases were either wooden “cofn cases” or in some instances canvas or leather cases that snapped open at the end to receive the guitar. The C.F. Martin cases from the 1920’s until the early 1940’s were mostly six ply plywood cases covered with black tolex (vinyl type) material with purple lining inside. They usually had a leather handle. From the early 1940’s until the mid to late 1960’s the lining inside the black tolex cases was dark green. Blue lined plywood tolex covered cases were used from the late 1960’s until very early 1970’s at which time the blueish thermoplastic molded cases took over.
About 1980 the thermoplastic molded cases were black in color. Case covers help protect the case just as cases help protect the guitars. A very rare nd would be an all original pre-war vintage guitar in excellent condition with the original hardshell case also in excellent condition. Vintage Guitar Checklist Item #17: Ask questions. It only seems normal that the more insight one has into the background of one’s vintage guitar, the more enhanced one’s enjoyment of the instrument would be. The only way to obtain this insight would be to ask as many questions about the history of a particular instrument as one can think to ask . . .How long has one owned the instrument? . . . Who did any work on the instrument that may have been done? . . Why does one want to sell the instrument? . . . Is there anything about the instrument that you know and I don’t? These are just a few examples of some questions one may want to ask about a potential purchase. The better one knows the instrument the more likely one is to enjoy the instrument.
Vintage Guitar Checklist Item #18. Consider. Consider the fact that both money and ne musical instruments are very hard to come by. Money is the most collectible thing on planet earth . . . it also loses value everyday. One can go to one’s bank and get money, but not the other. Guitars don’t eat. Money is only a convenient medium of exchange. He who hesitates is lost and fools rush in where angels fear to tread. In other words, THINK! Don’t act impulsively. One should take a minimum of one hour, using a written checklist, to inspect a guitar one is considering. So as to help avoid the “high cost of paying too little,” one may want to search for a great guitar instead of a great deal on a not-so-great guitar. Once one has found one’s perfect guitar my advice would be to “have at it,” no holds barred. Remember, it’s an investment one could leave to one’s great grandchildren and something they may otherwise be unable to obtain.
Thank you for allowing me to share these thoughts and ideas with you. I anxiously await your feedback at 423-983-5533!
MARYVILLE
TENNESSEE
WE BUY GUITARS 423/ 983-5533 68
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
July/August 1997
Melbourne E. Bay February 25, 1913 - May 14, 1997
Mel Bay Mel Bay, founder and president of Mel Bay Publications, Inc., died at age 84 on Wednesday, May 14 1997. He is survived by his wife May, brother Bill, sister Halene White, daughter Susan, son Bill and six grandsons. Mel Bay was born in the Missouri town of Bunker and raised in DeSoto where as a teenager he taught himself how to play the guitar and performed regularly with various Ozark region bands. His plans to study engineering in college were brought to a halt by the depression. Upon moving to St. Louis, Mel took up the tenor banjo and became a highly sought after musician and teacher. Mel Bay began writing guitar methods in 1947. His method books grew in popularity worldwide and laid the foundation for most of today’s pedagogy. Guitar Player magazine termed him the “George Washington” of the guitar. It is difcult to nd a guitarist worldwide who has not, at some point, studied out of one of his methods. Sales of his various books are estimated to be well in excess of 20 million copies. He received many awards during his career
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
which include “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Guitar Foundation of America, “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Retail Print Music Dealers Association, “Owen Miller Lifetime Achievement Award” from the American Federation of Musicians, “Certicate of Merit” from the St. Louis Music Educators Association, a resolution from the Missouri House of Representatives honoring his achievements, a proclamation by mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. making October 25, 1996 “Mel Bay Day” for the city of St. Louis and a letter of commendation from President Clinton. Mel Bay established the structure for modern guitar education and by so doing, laid the foundation for the continued growth and advancement of the instrument.
July/August 1997
Mel Bay Publications, Inc. #4 Industrial Drive Daily Industrial Park Pacic, MO 63069 (314) 257-3970 http://www.melbay.com
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Doc Watson Receives Honorary Degree From the University of North Carolina
Doctor “Doc” Watson On 11 May 1997, during a morning commencement ceremony in Kenan Stadium at the University of North Carolina, legendary guitarist Arthel “Doc” Watson of Deep Gap, North Carolina, received an honorary doctor of letters degree.
Although he has been refered to as “Doc” since the early forties when he performed on a live radio program and was introduced as “Doc” Watson, this honorary degree ofcially gives him the the title of Doctor.
Good Medicine The new CD from
1995 National Flatpick Champion
Mark Cosgrove Available Now Send Check or money Order fro $16.00 plus $1.00 shipping to: Noisy Neighbors Music 6853 Tohickon Hill Rd Pipersville, PA 18947
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
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CLASSIFIEDS Classied ads will be accepted for guitar and musical related items @ 40¢ a word, 50¢ a word for bold lower case type, 60¢ a word for bold upper case type. Please call (800) 413-8296 to order, or send ad to High View Publications, P.O. Box 51967, Pacic Grove, CA 93950
Instructional Material:
Guitars, Strings, and Accesories:
IMPROVISATION ON BLUEGRASS GUITAR 70 breaks, 14 techniques, 39 tunes, $17.95 (cassette $8.95) write to: Keith Freedman, 51111 S. Twin Buttes, Salome, AZ 85348 (520) 927-4824, Acoustic Musician Magazine says: “HIGHLY RECOMMENDED”
STEVE SWAN GUITARS stocks a wide variety of atpicking dreadnaughts. Current inventory includes 1943 Martin D-18, 1990 Brazilian Rosewood Collings Clarence White, Brazilian Rosewood Peter Yelda D with old German Spruce top, 1990 Brazilian Taylor 810. Santa Cruz inventory includes Quilted Mahogany D with German Spruce top, Indian Rosewood Vintage Artist, Indian Rosewood D with German Spruce top, Indian Rosewood 12 fret D, Mahagany 12 Fret D, Indian Rosewood Tony Rice, 3 Brazilian Rosewood Tony Rice Professionals with German Spruce tops, Quilted Mahagany 1943 style D with Adirondack Spruce top, 9 different OMs in various wood combina tions. For a curren t stock list phone or fax (510) 527-1734, write 1060 Solano Avenue #721, Albany, CA, 94706, or e-mail us at
[email protected], call my home ofce (415) 344-6839, or visit our web site at www.tonewood.com/ssg/ We specialize in custom orders using wood from our large stock of Figured Mahogany, Koa, Brazilian Rosewood, Adirondack Spruce, and German Silver Spruce. Visit our shop at 437 Colusa Avenue in Kensington, just north of Berkeley. We offer expert repair and restoration by John Mello and Al Milburn.
THE GUITAR JAM TAPE: Play leads to “Blackberry Blossom,”“Salt Creek,” and ten other jamming favorites with your complete bluegrass Band-in-a-Box backup cassette! $16.60 ppd. includes tab booklet. Andy Cushing, 6534 Gowanda St. Rd., Hamburg NY 14075
MUSIC THEORY COURSE FOR GUITAR Correspondence Course. Certicate issued on completion. Beginning courses also available. Course outline and enrollment order form for this and other home study courses, write to: Jim Sutton Institute of Guitar, 23014 Quail Shute, Spring, TX 77389 E-mail:
[email protected] CUSTOM TRANSCRIPTIOIN SPECIALIST Quick free estimates (large catalog/tons of Doc), exact, easy to read, song/solo tab (all styles), digital speed reductions. John Maier, 55 Williams St. Dept FG, Pleasantville, NY 10570, 914-741-6321.
SUPERCHARGED FLATPICKING! David Grier slows down Wheeling, Old Hotel Rag, Engagement Waltz, Bluegrass Itch, That’s Just Perfect, Eye of the Hurricane, Impulsive, Shadowbrook, Smith’s Chapel, Porkchops and Applesauce , and Lone Soldier - $29.95. Also videos from Joe Carr, “60 Hot Licks for Bluegrass Guitar” and “Bluegrass Flatpick Favorites,” $29.95 each or both for $49.95. Texas Music & Video, Box 8101, Levelland, TX 79338, 1-800-874-8384, fax 806-894-2580 STELLING GUITAR Known the world over for superior quality in Banjos and Mandolins, Stelling also offers a superior quality guitar. Limited in production, the Stelling guitar is available through a limited number of Stelling dealers. Please call, write, or fax us for more information. Visit our web site at www.stellingbanjo.com. Dial 1-800-5 STRING or fax us at (804) 971-8309. Stelling Banjo Works, Ltd., 7258 Banjo Lane, Afton, VA 22920.
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FOR A GOOD TIME try a free sample copy of The Vintage News, monthly review of the most special, superb sounding fretted instruments. Subscriptions: $15 a year for 12 issues ($20 overseas). Mandolin Brothers, 629 Forest Ave, Staten Island, NY 10310; tel 718-981-8585; fax 816-4416; website: www.mandoweb.com; email:
[email protected]
Guitars New and Used. Authorized Dealer for Santa Cruz and Gibson. Also banjos, mandolins and ddles. Discount prices. Call or write for current listing. The Bluegrass Connection, P.O Box 92, Birch River, WV, 26610. Phone: (304) 649-2012
ALLEN GUITARS guitars ~ mandolins ~ resophonics “Building Tomorrow’s Collectibles Today” (916) 346-6590 or visit our web-site http:// www.allenguitar.com PO Box 1883 Colfax, CA 95713 USA
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